What Word Was It Again?
by MiniatureAzn
Summary: "Will we meet again?" "Sure we will." "Promise?" "Promise." Those were the last words they exchanged 7 years ago before they parted. Who knew that an innocent crush from back then would smack them right in the face once more? Only this time, fate decided to do it twice as hard, just enough for the both of them to realize what they were missing out on. Wait.. what word was it again?
1. Introduction

**I have finally decided to write a fanfiction after only reading them, and realizing that I wanted to be able to make my own story too. Being able to twist the story however I want seems more satisfying to me rather than reading an ending with a cliffhanger only to be stabbed with the feeling of disappointment.** **Anyways, here it is. The introduction for ****_'What Word Was It Again?'_**

* * *

**What Word Was It Again?**

_**Epilogue**_

_Blue skies, gentle gusts of wind wandering aimlessly in the fields dancing and playing with the trustful grass that covered the dirt below, this seemingly kind scenery gave away such a peaceful feeling. _

_Right at that moment, a girl and a boy, fingers entwined, were taking their last few steps together until they finally reached their parting destination. Once they both let go, there was no turning back.. _

_Their hands trembled, both of them knew._

_"Will we meet again sometime?" Chihiro asked as she turned around to face Haku before going down the steps leading to the rocks where they were forced to separate. _

_"Sure we will." he smiled, but his eyes seemed to display sadness._

_"Promise?" she looked at him earnestly, eagerly waiting for an answer._

_It took a moment for the boy to reply. His heart was beating faster. _

_"Promise. Now go, and don't look back until you have crossed the tunnel."_

_Once again, he smiled, but his eyes showed a more obvious display of sadness._

_Chihiro, being the oblivious girl that she is, did not notice this, and smiled back before turning her back to him._

_As their hands slowly parted, Haku could not help but feel a little lonely after they let go. The warmth of her hands lingered on his skin._

_Chihiro hopped down the steps, crossing the river by stepping on the rocks, not looking back. He watched her until she disappeared down the hill, softly clenching his fists, he turned his back and transformed into his dragon form and flew up to the sky with tremendous speed._

_"...It's a thousands years too early for me to even say 'that' to her."_

* * *

**_6 years later..._**

"I understand how you feel, I miss her too."

...

"No. This is too risky. And not to mention, foolish! Even if you're powerful or whatsoever, you're putting your life on the line every second you spend out there." A young woman cried with an anxious look on her face, mixed with a hint of anger, her blood boiling due to the frustration and the stubbornness of the 'young' river dragon. "Yes, I already know that Lin but I have waited long enough, after I released myself from my contract with Yubaba and returned to my river, I have spent each day repeatedly doing the same things since my parting with her. I want to do something different. I made a promise with her, you of all people should know that." He replied in a calm tone, trying to make her spare him at least a bit of understanding on his decision.

"Haku, face it. She has probably forgotten about us and living a happy life, she may have already started a family of her own, and have you ever even thought about the possibility that she might even be dead?! The time in this world works differently in their world!" Lin stopped, dead in her tracks. She knew well that both of them had been avoiding this topic for as long as they could remember.

Haku glared at her menacingly sending a cold shiver made its way up her spine.

"I apologize. You _know _I didn't mean it. I was only listing the possibilities. I have already lost Chihiro. She was the only person that made me feel like I was needed. Sure I disliked you back then, but Haku.. since then, you were the one that looked out for me. Like some responsible younger brother. What if I lose you too..?" Lin suddenly stopped, all the tears she refused to shed all these years that she had kept in a fragile bottle made a desperate attempt to shatter it. She couldn't let them out now. Not now. It wasn't the time for it. She _had_ to stop him from going.

Her usual bloodless complexion turned even more corpse-looking. Haku began to form a slightly surprised expression, melting the anger that he felt towards her just a few seconds ago.

"That is the reason why I'm setting out to look for her in the human world. If she does not remember me nor this world, then I will make her remember, and I will be sure to bring her back." His expression turned serious, although there was a hint of uncertainty. He couldn't back down now, he made his choice, and thus, he is going to go along with it. Lin took a moment to process everything in, then finally nodded in approval of his decision.

"...The air that humans breathe are different than the air, we, spirits breathe, and comparing the environment they have to what we have, it does not meet the requirements needed for our species to survive." The slightly sobbing woman stated. "But I trust you, I trust the Gods and ancestors to look after you during your stay there. So you better find Chihiro." She added. Haku smiled and gently patted Lin on the back, comforting her.

_'There is a chance she might have forgotten about us, but I have a strong feeling that she still remembers this place... This time, I will be able to tell her 'that'...'_

* * *

**Well, that was really short. It's only the introduction anyway xD But, ehh. I'm still planning the whole 'plot'. I'm a lazy person but I will try my best and shove homework aside and make this first priority. Jokesss. I'm Asian so that wouldn't be a option. :D Hope you enjoyed the introduction. **


	2. Chapter 1: Uninvited Visitor Part 1

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Do give feedback, I really want to know what I need to work on for next time.**

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Uninvited Visitor / Part 1**_

_…_

_Water...?_

_I.. Am I drowning?_

_..._

"Ugh..." A girl sat up on her bed and began rubbing her temple. "Why is it that my dream always gets cut off whenever I start to try and remember? That's obviously not normal." She lazily got out of bed and walked towards the mirror. She had long chestnut-colored hair that fell down just a little below her shoulders. Her eyes were a stunning shade of brown, like hazel, it supported the frame of her face and her lightly tanned skin. She wore a lime-green singlet with bright yellow shorts that showcased her slender body. This girl is Oogino Chihiro. 17 years of age, and has taken an odd liking to her shiny purple hair tie, she doesn't even remember where she got it from.

She was half asleep, lost in thought looking at herself in the mirror.

Suddenly, the window beside her bed rattled and burst open, she jumped back, caught by surprise.

There, hanging on the window sill, was her childhood friend, Yamato Shota, his face looked desperate.

"Yo! Could you maybe lend your dear friend a hand so he doesn't fall from the top of a three-story house and break every single bone in his body?" Sounding sarcastic while laughing nervously.

Chihiro stood silently as she stared at him, then back to the mirror, picking up her hairbrush and began to brush her hair.

"Come on. I'll treat you to watermelon bread." Still hanging onto the window sill, with the tip of his right foot supported by a tree beside their house. Chihiro ignored his bribe and continued to brush her hair.

"Oi, oi. Seriously. If you don't help me out, I'm not gonna let you ride on my bicycle and you darn well know that you'll be late! Mr. Jin said that if you get to school late one more time, he'll put you in after-school detention for the rest of the month." He said, grinning this time. Chihiro put the hairbrush down and sighed, making her way over to the window to help her friend.

Shota had finally gotten up the window sill, and landed on the slightly dusty, carpeted floor of Chihiro's room, letting out a sigh of relief that she had decided to help him up the last second, he would have fallen by now if she hadn't, and maybe broke a few bones, or worse, he could have died.

"Whew, sometimes, blackmailing is quite handy." Shota stated, while brushing dust off his uniform.

"Geez. Why can't you just use the front door like normal people?" Chihiro darted back with annoyance. "Hmm.. I have my own way of doing things I guess?" He smiled, grabbing a manga out of a small bookshelf and casually sat on Chihiro's bed. Chihiro sighed as she shook her head with disbelief before she went into the bathroom to change.

Chihiro and Shota had been friends ever since she moved into the house 7 years ago. Both their parents got along, and so did they because they were both an only child. Sometimes when Shota's parents invited Chihiro's parents for dinner, they would be whispering about Shota and Chihiro's 'future' together, and of course, the two heard their parents' discussion but decided not to talk about or even mention anything that involves 'relationships' in their conversations.

Shota was taller than the average height for guys, he had short, silky, navy-blue hair that framed his feminine yet handsome features, he had pale skin and a slim body, some girls were even jealous of him, to top it all off, he had dark violet eyes that made him look even sexier. He was the type that went straight to the point instead of dragging it; honesty, you could call it. He loved to joke around; he has a 'passion' for pranking and always seemed to get away with it; most of his pranks that he dragged Chihiro in ended up with her getting all the blame and a month worth of cleaning duties.

As soon as Shota heard the bathroom door open, he immediately sat up from the bed and put the manga back into the bookshelf.

"Ready to go?" He yawned.

"Yep." Chihiro replied wearily.

Chihiro was now wearing her uniform, white long-sleeved polo and a red and white plaid-patterned bow and skirt, covered in a buttoned-up white coat, with black knee-socks. Both of them left the room and made their way downstairs. Chihiro's mother, Yuuki, had prepared breakfast, while her father, Akio was already sitting on the table, drinking his usual cup of coffee while reading the daily newspaper.

Yuuki noticed the two making their way down the stairs and smiled.

"Ah! Shota, would you like to come and join us for breakfast?"

"No thanks, I've already eaten before I left the house. Thank you for the offer though." Shota replied smiling.

_ 'What a good kid.'_ Yuuki thought to herself as she continued to clean the counters.

Akio, hearing footsteps nearby, looked up from his newspaper noticing a small leaf and a twig tangled in Shota's hair.

"I see you've climbed up the tree again." He grumbled as he looked back down on the newspaper, sipping his coffee. Shota laughed at his usual reactions.

"Ahahaha! Sorry sir. I like making an entrance, and also because I wanted to give Chi a good scare to get her hyped up before going to school." Yuuki giggled at this statement, but Chihiro, on the other hand, gave Shota a cold glare.

"Anyways.. we'll be leaving now. We're going to be late." Chihiro walked off to put on her school shoes, with Shota following her from behind.

"Oh okay. Have a safe trip!" Yuuki exclaimed before they left.

As soon as the door closed, "That boy's too obvious." Akio stated after finishing his cup of coffee.

"I agree, I can't believe Chihiro still hasn't noticed it yet. It's been years." Yuuki replied, sighing. "It won't be long though, they're growing up."

* * *

A young man sat alone in solitude on the plain, resting his feet on the soft grass, focusing on the rocks where a river used to flow. They were not just ordinary rocks, but instead, they were the 'border'. A crossing from the spirit world, to the human world. It was what connected the two worlds together.

The young man was Haku. A river god that took the form of a human as well as a dragon. He took a deep breath before he began chanting an ancient spell.

_I call upon the Gods to give me strength,_  
_Ancestors, heed my prayers,_  
_O' Great Ones, extend my power to no length,_  
_Punishments received shall be abided,_  
_To fulfill my wish, my desire,_  
_A sinful act that once divided_

After that, a powerful force shook the ground mercilessly. Cracks immediately formed as Haku lifted into the air, repeating the chant for half a minute. It stopped. Haku glowed blue for a few moments. He slowly stood up, and just before he was about to step on one of the rocks to cross to the other side, a familiar feminine voice was growing closer. He listened closely to get a better hearing of the voice.

"Wait! Haku!" As the female spirit approached, panting and holding a white envelope.

"What is it Lin?" Haku asked Lin irritably.

"I know you can't wait to see her but, deliver her this message for me. It's important. If you dare open the letter, I will curse you to your grave." She glared at him, passing him the letter. "I am immortal. I have lived for thousands of decades and you dare speak to me that way considering that you're asking me, your superior, a favour?" He scowled at her.

"Look. I just want you to deliver that message to Chihiro. I will trust you not to open it. So please, directly give it to her." She handed the letter to him and bent down, placing her hands on her knees for support, still panting.

"I will not open it unless I have been given permission. That would just dishonor my reputation and my pride." He replied firmly, now turning his back to her. "I wish you the best on your quest, do not exert yourself too much." He nodded back to her, and she bowed, taking her leave_. _

_'He will come for you soon Chihiro..'_ She said to herself as she walked back to the bathhouse.

His foot, trembling a bit, stepped on the rock. Feeling a huge wave of magic go through his body. He continued to walk across the border, over the hills until he reached the tunnel, he calmly walked through it, as he passed, there was a hall that looked like a small chapel. Not even a little shaken by the huge gusts of winds that tried to prevent him from proceeding, he continued to walk towards the exit of the building.

As he took his final steps, he had finally entered the human world, although he felt a little drained. He tried to transform into his dragon form, but somehow, something was keeping him from doing so. Haku looked ahead saw a twin statue_._

_ 'Of course.. the magic warder.'_ Haku walked on, his face beginning to scrunch up as he began to smell something.. familiar.

_'That's an odd scent, it's horrid. I have not smelt a human's scent in a long time. I should go and ask directions for Chihiro.'_

Haku stopped, reconsidering his last thought.

_'No. I have too much pride for that.'_ Haku shook his head.

_'Never in my immortal lifetime will I ask a human for help.'_ Haku walked off and stopped again to rethink.

_'I have no knowledge of this world, I must get help if I want to find her.'_ He argued to himself and started to follow the scent. As he came closer, he saw a river, and by the river..

He saw _her_.


	3. Chapter 2: Uninvited Visitor Part 2

**A/N: Weekends have finally come to my rescue saving me from schoolwork~ NOT. 3 tests in a week coming up, and a crap load of homework taunting me from my desk. Yet I decided to do THIS first.. Well, here it is. **

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Uninvited Visitor (Part 2)**_

Haku stood, staring at the girl standing beside the river. It was silent. All he could hear were birds chirping, and the gentle flow of the river. She wore a dark purple kimono patterned with white flower petals at the bottom, and a blood-colored sash that was tightly wrapped around her stomach. She had long black hair tied into a ponytail that stopped at her waist, long eyelashes, and skin that looked as pale as a dead person, it was hauntingly breath-taking. She had icy blue eyes that looked lifelessly at the river. The girl noticed his arrival and approached him. Haku readied his fighting stance.

The girl stopped a meter away from him, clearing her throat and began to speak.

"Lord Haku, my grandfather has been expecting you. He sent me to escort you." The girl bowed. Haku looked a bit puzzled, but remained in his fighting stance.

"Please do not be alarmed. I am Lenka. My grandfather told me that you had called for his aid in search for a girl in the human world, am I correct?" Haku nodded slowly, his muscles beginning to ease up a bit.

"Please. Come with me. Our destination is not far from here." She turned to a direction and started to walk. Haku followed the Lenka, but he kept in mind not to let his guard down until she gained his full trust.

Lenka stopped in front of a huge gate and a long wall that seemed to go on endlessly when you looked from the side. This place was located deep within the woods. The gate had cherry blossom patterns while two guards stood on each side of the gate. It slowly opened up, and the girl looked back at Haku and gestured him to go in first. He slowly walked past the entrance, Lenka following from behind. As he entered the the gates, he saw a traditional Japanese house that covered most of the land, he was surrounded by fallen petals, bright flowers which colors varied from red to magenta, and a huge pond that contained many types of rare fish, which brought a small smile on Haku's face, although he had arrived in the human world only recently, he missed his river already.

* * *

They entered the house, and Lenka led him to a huge room, the walls were all covered with different kinds of swords, steel to gold, the ground was covered in a thin bamboo mat, an old man was sitting cross-legged at the end of the room looking at the newcomer.

"Grandfather, I have brought Lord Haku, just as you requested." Lenka bowed to her grandfather, then to Haku, and walked away. Haku stood there waiting for permission to enter the room.

"Come in."

The old man gestured for Haku to come forward and he did, taking small steps towards the green-colored pillow that had been prepared for him located at the front of the old man.

Haku sat down on the pillow and bowed courteously to the Elder in front of him, "Elder, I cannot thank you enough for answering my call for help."

"Kind dragon, I would be more than happy to help you on your quest, as you have aided me before in times of need." The Elder kindly smiled at Haku.

"I do not know if it is of my position to ask, but would you be so kind to tell me how you are able to live in the human world without any disturbances in your health regarding the fact that you are a spirit?" Haku felt a shot of regret and a slight hint of fear after he popped the question.

_'Spirits would not decide to live in the human world without personal reasons. I should not have asked such a thing, meddling with another's affairs.'_ Haku thought to himself.

The Elder noticed Haku's expression, worry was written all over it. Haku was in the middle of getting lost in his thoughts and thinking of the worst possible outcomes in his head, the Elder laughed loudly at this. Haku looked bewildered.

"Lord Haku, I would not mind telling you stories of how I decided to live here, but we would have to discuss that some other time, today, I would like to talk about this human that you are looking for. Is there a reason behind all this?" Haku nodded and started to explain to the Elder about how the he had saved her when she was drowning when she was just a small child and met her again in the spirit world, then he started discussing about how she saved him from losing himself, his name, his conscience, and how they both made a promise before she left to go back to the human world with her parents 7 years ago.

The Elder quietly listened to Haku's story, thoroughly reading into every word he said. After Haku had finished, the Elder just nodded and smiled. It was a pretty obvious reason.

"I see. I understand, but what do you plan to do after you have found this human?"

Haku was at loss for words. He had not thought of it, before he left for the human world. They simply made a promise to meet each other again. Something just told him that he needed to go to her. The Elder saw the young man's flustered expression and sighed. "You have not fully thought this through, but you cannot go back to the Spirit World until you have fulfilled your purpose for coming here."

Haku felt ashamed, he didn't even make a plan of action. Questions began to flood his mind. What was he going to do after he came here? Did he even need a reason for this? It was crystal clear to him yet it was blurry at the same time. The only thing that went through his mind during all of this was that he wanted to find Chihiro. He needed to find her. He needed to see her. He yearned for her warm touch once again.

He felt like he was missing something. Something to do.. something to give? Or maybe it was something.. something to _say_?

* * *

_..._

_Something._

_Something.._

_…_

_Something to say.._

_'Poor boy.. He has not become fully aware of his own intentions and feelings yet...' _The Elderly thought to himself.

Wanting to break the ice between the two, the Elder decided to talk first and declared an offer.

"Lord Haku, if you do not already have a place to stay for the time being, I would gladly take you in." Haku finally got out from his deep thoughts.

"Ah.. yes. Since I do not have a place to stay at the moment, I will gladly take your offer. I shall be in your care." Haku bowed again in gratitude.

"In other words, since you look about 17 years old in this world, you will have to attend school. I have already prepared the paperwork. You will be attending the same school as my granddaughter." The Elder stated.

_'School?! That place where the youth goes to learn the ways of life..? But I am more than a thousand decades old! I am wiser than any other human in this planet!' _Haku thought to himself, offended by the Elder's decision.

The Elder continued, "Do not misunderstand my intentions, Lord Haku. Here in the human world, youth that are of the age 18 and below must attend school, you look about 17 here. I am not questioning your logic, but instead, I am helping you, to be able to fit into this world, you must move with it." Haku understood and nodded. A knock on the door was heard, and Lenka came in.

"Lord Haku, the preparations for the room you will be staying in has finished." Haku bowed to the girl, turned to the Elder and bowed, the Elder bowed back.

"I shall be taking my leave now." Haku slowly stood up, and followed Lenka out of the room and into the hallways. The sound of their steps grew quieter and quieter as they walked away.

...

The Elder sighed, "You can come out now Lin."

Behind the Elder was a hidden door, which had a barrier spell on it so no one would be able to sense any magic behind it. The door slid open and Lin came out, bowing her head to the Elder.

"I deeply apologize for asking such a request from you." The Elder smiled at her,

"No, no. I should be the one apologizing. Once I heard that the young dragon decided to venture out in the human world in search for a girl, I was surprised. Sometimes when you get old, you can't help but meddle in children's love affairs." The Elder stated while laughing.

"Oh, and I forgot, you will need to take a form of a human to help him." The Elder continued, he used his hands and started to write signs on the air.

A few seconds later, Lin, had transformed into a man. She gasped, looking at her hands and her 'new body'. "You will take the role of a new substitute teacher at his school, going by the name Himekawa Noe. You will keep an eye on him for me." The Elderly finished off, and gestured a sign of dismissal. Lin nodded and bowed, leaving the room.

_'I guess when you get old, you become less adventurous and choose to meddle in the younger ones' lives than making your own more exciting.' _The Elderly thought to himself, letting out another sigh.


	4. Chapter 3: Blindfolded

_**Chapter 3: Lost**_

"Lord Haku, it is time to get ready for school."

_Nnh.._

_…_

"Lord Haku, please get ready for school."

_Who dares disturb my slumber?_

Haku lifted his heavy eyelids seeing Lenka standing on the doorway.

_Oh.. that's right. The Elder's granddaughter, Lenka.'_

He sat up rubbing his eyes wearily.

"Lord Haku, you and I shall start attending the same school today. Please get yourself ready, I have prepared your uniform and placed them in the closet." Lenka looked a bit irritated, but Haku was still half-asleep so he didn't notice it.

"Yes, yes. I will be with you in a moment." Lenka bowed before closing the door and leaving. Haku stood up from the bed and headed towards the closet. Haku's eyes widened with surprised. There laid a neatly folded stack of clothes; a white long-sleeved polo, a white-and-blue plaid-patterned necktie, a blue blazer and a pair of formal grey pants.

_'Is this what they call a.. uniform?' _He thought to himself as he picked up the neatly folded clothes from the closet, and started examining them.

_'Humans have very odd taste in clothing.'_

He started to change into these odd clothes, into this 'uniform'. He had put on everything, except for the necktie. He was struggling trying to figure out how to put them on. He heard a sudden knock on the door.

"Lord Haku, have you finished changing into the attire?" Lenka asked from the other side of the sliding door.

"Not quite. I'm struggling to put on this fabric made of silk." He replied.

"Shall I help you with that?"

"Please do." Letting out a sigh of relief, it was a good thing she came or else he would have had an hour long battle with a piece of fabric. The door slid open and Lenka came in. Haku handed her the silk. He watched as she put the tie around his neck, then she started to fold them together in different ways, and finally finished.

He looked down on the tie questioningly. _I don't see the point of this fabric dangling around my neck.'_ A maid knocked on the door.

"Madame, the ceremony will begin in 15 minutes, we have prepared your kimono."

"Ah, yes. I will be with you in a second." Lenka turned and smiled at the maid. The maid bowed before taking her leave. Lenka turned back to Haku.

"Lord Haku, I'm afraid I will not be able to accompany you to school today, as I have to duties to fulfill. I will prepare the car for you. Please head to the dining hall to get some breakfast, grandfather will be waiting for you there." Lenka bowed as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Haku put the clothes he wore when he arrived in the closet, and exited the room, heading towards the dining hall to meet with the Elder.

* * *

"Paz! Can you hurry up in there? I have to go to school too you know!" Her brother, Natsume, groaned, tapping his foot impatiently on the wooden floor, waiting for his turn in the bathroom.

"Seriously. We need more than one bathroom in this house, it's like an everyday war to see who gets in first." He added.

"That wouldn't be my fault now, would it? Since I was the one who got in first." The girl smirked and continued to tie her hair up into a high ponytail. She had long dark chestnut-colored hair that stopped exactly at her shoulders, tanned skin and a pair of glossy emerald eyes. She was small for her age, around 4,8. Her name is Abana Paz, 17 years old and half Spanish-Japanese. She's gone to the same schools as Chihiro and Shota ever since middle school. Some people call her and Chihiro twins, which she denies, although they're both alike, in appearance, (except for the height) as well as in personality; they were both hard to convince, pessimistic about almost everything, easily frightened, petulant, and a bit boyish.

Paz walked out of the bathroom, as she went past her brother, she poked out her tongue at him, and as a reply, he pulled a face, went into the bathroom and slammed the door.

"I wonder what happened to the little brother I used to know that loved making daisy chains?" Her brother, hearing this, he replied to her yelling.

"Shut upppppp! You know yourself that it was you who gave me the daisies and framed me!" Paz laughed at this and made her way downstairs to get her breakfast.

On the table, her bento was already prepared, wrapped in a pink handkerchief.

_*ding* _

"Toast!" She grabbed the toast, and held it in her mouth, she picked up her bento and placed it in her bag.

"Mom! I'll be leaving now!"

"Have a safe trip dear." Her mother replied from the living room.

"I will!" Paz replied in enthusiasm before closing the door behind her.

_'The start of another depressing day of an unrequited love with your best friend that's obviously in love with your other best friend who doesn't seem to feel the same way, I'm just the third wheel.__..' _She thought to herself and let out a sigh as she grabbed her bike and rode out onto the familiar streets.

* * *

_"Lord Haku, please restrain yourself from using your powers. This world works differently, as you may already know. I expect a lot from you coming here. Wear this bracelet so I will be able to track your location in case you get lost. This bracelet also helps your body adapt in this world. Do not do anything unnecessary or anything that may attract attention." the Elder gave the bracelet to Haku and dismissed him._

Haku made his way out of the house and walked towards the main gates.

A vehicle, of some sort, was waiting for Haku in front of the gates. A guard stood beside the vehicle and opened it.

_'I see, it's like a carriage, except that the whole thing is made out of steel.'_

Haku entered the vehicle as the guard closed the door behind him. The guard signaled the driver, and the vehicle soon moved farther and farther away from the area, the house shrunk as the vehicle moved farther.

As the vehicle traveled along the streets, Haku was amazed at the other vehicles riding along side the one he was in, because in the spirit world, there were rarely any carriages or any sort or transport except from the train, and some spirits had the ability to fly, like himself for example. There were shops everywhere, all lined together. Restaurants, bookstores and some shops that he did not quite understand the purpose of. He saw people crossing, a woman holding bags of food in both arms, girls walking in groups, talking and-

A strangely familiar-looking girl rode past his vehicle, even though it was only a split second, he remembered what she looked like; she had long dark chestnut-colored hair that was tied up into a high ponytail, like how Chihiro always tied her hair up. She had tanned skin, and had emerald eyes that matched his.

_'Did Chihiro even have emerald-?'_ Haku's eyes widened, then he snapped. He had finally found her. The girl he had been looking for. The reason why he came here. He could not possibly lose her now. Haku panicked, he didn't know how to get out of the vehicle. Without having any second thought, Haku used his powers to call forth a forceful gust of wind that shattered the window of the car, he quickly got out, and ran after the girl who was now a small figure ahead of him. Haku was a fast runner so he ran towards the moving figure along the road, gritting his teeth, cars beeped, people gasped, some were screaming. He didn't care, he _needed_ to reach her.

His speed was increasing tremendously, with the help of the wind, Haku was close to reaching her.

"Wait! You there! Stop!" He yelled. The girl didn't look back, she kept on cycling farther and farther ahead.

_'What if it's the wrong girl?!'_

...

_'What if that human is merely a look-a like of her?!'_

_Argh! Enough. It's better than nothing._

Haku took a deep breath.

"Chihiro!"

...

This time, the bicycle stopped. Haku was panting a bit, a drop of sweat made it's way down alongside the frame of his face, his heart was beating faster aside from the fact that he just ran, in the Spirit World, he could run without ever tiring himself, but running in the human world nearly exhausted him.

_'She stopped... Could it be her?'_

Haku slowly approached the girl, his hands were trembling.

He had finally found her.

* * *

_'Eh? Did I just hear Chihiro's name? Maybe she's around here somewhere.. with Shota.' _

Paz looked at every direction in the streets. _Nowhere. _

_*sigh*_

Suddenly, she heard footsteps nearby, she turned around, and to her surprise, a handsome young man around her age was approaching her, he had forest-green shoulder length hair with straight bangs, which she found a bit funny. He had a pair of deep, soft, emerald eyes and, pale skin. He also seemed to be wearing her school's uniform. Her heartbeat fastened a little.

_ 'Wait! What? Paz, you lik- love Shota remember? This heart's not supposed to be beating for someone else! That's indirectly cheating!'_ She thought to herself, not realizing her face looked panicked.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to be Oogino Chihiro?" The stranger asked me, smiling.

_'What the.. Could this guy be crushing on Chihiro? An admirer? Heh. Before this guy meddles with Chihiro's love life, he'd have to go through me first.'_

Paz grinned to herself, without any second thoughts..

"Yep, that's me. Do you have any bussiness with me?" The stranger in front of me, he didn't seemed to have heard my question, his smile widened, and all of a sudden, he hugged me, I blushed a bit by his actions.

"Thank God, I have finally found you!" He let go after 'quite' a while, and looked at me with such tender eyes, taking my hand gently and said.

"I have come to fetch you." He kindly smiled at me, his eyes filled with relief and happiness.

_'Wait, what? Fetch me- I mean Chihiro? I don't know how to reply, I don't even know him, I have to change the subject before anything else happens.'_

"Err- Who are you, if I may ask? I have a poor memory, sorry." After I asked, his expression changed. This time, the eyes that shone cheerfully, turned emotionless, his smile he had on a moment ago had faded, turning into a slight frown and his brow furrowed, sadness flooded his whole face.

I felt a huge wave of guilt dropping down from the sky; hitting me right on the head._ 'This was.. is probably the stupidest thing I've done yet, Chihiro's definitely gonna get mad at me for this.'_ He let go of my hands. His face turned away slightly, and cleared his throat. Then he looked directly back at me and started to speak.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I mistook you for another person. Would you kindly tell me the directions to Kuran Academy? I'm a bit lost, you see, I have only moved here a few days ago."

_'Mistook me for someone else? How? He looked directly at me before he hugged me. What a liar!'_

"Suuuure. I just happen to go to the same school, I'll even offer you a tour around the school if you want." He thanked me, and bowed. I bowed back. It felt weird.

_'That's right! His name, I have to ask him.'_ "What's your name? I forgot to ask."

He looked at me sadly but he managed to smile, and replied, "I am Nigihayami Kohakunushi."

...

_'Wow. That's a reaaaally long name...'_

_Now it's my turn to introduce myself- _

_Wait, I can't. He thinks I'm Chihiro. Agh. Goddamn it.. what the hell, I'll play along. I'll have to find out his relationship with Chihiro and his true motives first before letting him anywhere near her.'_

**_HAKU POV_**

_'As I thought, the moment she exited that tunnel, her memories of the Spirit World were erased.' _Haku thought to himself, and let out a quiet sigh.

_'I guess I'll have to start all over again.'_


	5. Chapter 4: Misunderstanding

**A/N: **Hey everyone. I'm now back with a new chapter. Things will get a bit _bumpy _from here on out. *Evil LAFF* Muahahaha.. *Rubs hands together in a villainous manner* Enjoy~

* * *

**_Chapter 4: Misunderstanding_**

An anxious-looking girl walking with a somewhat handsome-looking guy were walking to school together on a sunny Tuesday morning.

_'Ugh, this is annoying. It's like he's been locked up in a dark cell all his life and has only been brought out to see the world only recently. He's looking at his surroundings like he's on a different planet or something.'_ Paz grumbled to herself.

_'Oh crap. Maybe he's an alien! He talks weird, like 'I've come to fetch you' and he bows. Well, the bowing part wasn't really weird since its a formal thing, but still! He's so weird._' Paz narrowed her eyes, and looked back at Haku, who was looking at his surroundings studiously. She let out a sigh.

"WOHH! Paz is that you? Who's that handsome guy behind you? Could it be? I thought you liked Sho-" Paz glared at her friend, he was always like this, annoying and talkative. "Key, you want your head to be part of the decorations in my room? They're all masterpieces, I tell you." Paz grinned. The boy pulled a face. His name is Toiro Key; he has spiky bleached hair, cat-like eyes, tanned skin, always wears an earring on his left ear and as usual, incorrect uniform. "I'd rather not. Now, answer my question, who is he? Is he new? A transfer student?" Key also has this nickname at school where everyone called him, _'The Source'_. Why, you ask? Because he knew information about everything. Who likes who. Affairs between teachers, you know, juicy gossip. Even the smallest of information wouldn't bypass this guy.

"Yeah. He's new. A transfer student, yup. Now leave us alone. Come on, Haku." Haku's attention was suddenly drawn to Paz, "Yes. Of course." Paz continued walking to school, Haku following from behind her.

_'Interesting. Just like in those girly shoujo mangas, a mysteriously handsome transfer student appears in front of a girl who's chasing after another guy.'_ Key grinned to himself as he entered a nearby convenience store.

_'We'll see how it turns out shall we?'_

* * *

Haku followed behind Paz as they walked past the school gates. There were other humans there too. Some of the females were looking at Haku as he passed by. Paz just let out a groan, it felt weird attracting attention _this_ early in the morning, especially when you have some new transfer student who just happened to be good-looking, except for the hair, which looked funny and belonged in the older generation.

_'Maybe they can tell that I'm not a human.'_ Haku thought to himself as he saw a few girls in the corner of his eye, staring at him.

They entered the building. Haku was buried deep within his own thoughts when a voice interrupted his thinking. "Mornin' Paz! You're looking awful as always." A guy laughed as he passed by_.'What in the name of?! How dare he insult Chihi-" _Haku's eyes widened.

_'That human just called her Paz, didn't he?'_ Haku was getting more and more confused. Maybe it was her middle name? Or maybe her previous parents divorced and her last name changed? Questions flooded through Haku's mind. It was all jumbled up now.

"Haha, very funny Mobino." Paz laughed sarcastically.

Haku narrowed his eyes at Paz_ 'Her eyes.. they were obviously not green when we first met several years ago._' Paz noticed Haku directly gazing intently at her, she turned away and blushed, "A-anyways, do you know what class you're in?" When she spoke, he snapped out of his trance and looked a bit lost, "Haku, your class, do you know what class you're in?" She asked again. _ 'Class? What is a class? Magician? Warrior?'_ Haku brought out a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.

It read: _Class 2-B_

Paz took a peek at the piece of paper and saw that he was in the same class as she was in. "Hey! You're in the same class as me! Great, then I could be your buddy and show you around." Paz smiled. "Then, I shall be in your care." Haku bowed. "No need to be so formal! We're friends now! So it's alright to be infor-" Behind Haku, no more than 4 meters away from them, was Chihiro and Shota. Her cheerfulness had gone away. Haku immediately noticed this, "Is there anything wrong? Are you not feeling well?"

_'That's right. I nearly forgot.'_ Paz chuckled to herself, but her facial expressions showed the opposite. "Ah! Look Chi, it's Paz!" Shota shouted from across the room, Chihiro poked her head out behind Shota. Paz looked at Shota for a second, smiling like an idiot as always. Paz grabbed Haku's hand and stormed off, leaving Shota with a surprised look on his face. Paz despised Shota's idiotic smile, especially in the morning, he had been completely oblivious, or at least acted like he was, to her feelings ever since they became friends in middle school. His full attention was always directed towards Chihiro. Not once did he look at her the same way he looked at Chihiro, it was obvious, everyone knew he liked her, maybe even love, but Chihiro on the other hand, was more oblivious, even with the rumors that went around saying that they were going out.

"Where are we heading?" Haku asked, still being dragged by Paz.

_Crap! I forgot that I grabbed his hand without thinking. Great. Now Shota will think that I liked this guy or something. Good thing I'm not in the same class as him and Chi._

Paz sighed, now she had to think of an excuse for why she dragged him along with her, good thing the school's garden was nearby. "Uh, I wanted to show you the school's garden." Paz pointed out to the flower beds. "Interesting. They did not have these type of plants in the spirit world..." Haku mumbled to himself. "What spirit world?" Haku's head jolted. "I like to call my house Spirit World because of the unique people that serves my family. The antiques and the old paintings." Haku smiled, but Paz seemed to be a bit confused. Haku remembered something he needed to ask. Before he could speak, an annoying ringing sound was heard, it was like a metal and another metal rapidly hitting each other, Haku got into a fighting stance, turning his head in every direction.

It was a moment of silence between the two.

"...What are you doing?" Paz asked. "That sound. It meant danger, did it not?" Haku asked questioningly. "Um. No. That was the bell, we'll be late for class, let's go." Haku nodded and followed behind her._ 'I nearly burst into laughter when I saw him in a fighting stance! Has he really not heard a bell go off before? Maybe he was home schooled or something. His way of speaking sounds ancient.'_ Paz grinned to herself as she and Haku made their way through the halls to their classroom. Paz took a deep breath before entering the classroom; she slid the door open. "Good moooorning, everyoneeeee!"

No reply.

"Helloooo? Did anyone hear me? I said good morni-" Finally, a boy replied, "Yeah, yeah. We heard ya'. But the girls didn't. They're drooling over the new substitute teacher." "Yeah. What's with the new people anyways? Two pretty boys, all dumped to our class." Another shouted out. By the chalkboard, a group of girls were surrounding the new substitute teacher. Paz couldn't lie. He was good-looking. He had dark purple hair that went down to his shoulders, and sapphire eyes. He was wearing a simple white long-sleeved shirt and black pants. He looked like he was in a bit of trouble. Paz sighed and made her way to her seat. Haku stood by the door. "Now, now. Human- Girls, please sit back down to your seats, I'm here today filling in for Mrs. Shizuri, you can call me Mr. Himekawa. I'm going to introduce to you your new classmate. " The students groaned and went back to their seats.

"Come in, transfer student." The teacher smiled at Haku, gesturing him to stand beside him. "Everyone. This is our new transfer student, you may introduce yourself." Haku cleared his throat before speaking, "Good morning. I am Nigihayami Kohakunushi. Nice to be acquainted with you all." Haku then bowed. Everyone stared at him. Mr. Himekawa spoke up, "Yes, well, he has transferred here from Okinawa. Nigihayami-kun, you may take a seat by that boy over there with the glasses at the back." "If I may, could I get your permission to sit beside that fellow?" Haku looked directly at Paz, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Sure. You have my permission. I'm sorry Jin-kun, but could you please move and sit beside glasses boy?" The boy that sat beside Paz stood up from his seat, grunted and moved towards the back. Haku made his way to the seat beside Paz, and everyone's eyes seemed to be looking her way.

"Huh? What?" Lifting her gaze from the window, to the whole class. "Why are you guys staring at me like tha- Oh." She was now looking at Haku. who now sat beside her, smiling. She sighed, drifting her eyes back to the window.

"Okay class, we'll be starting history now."

* * *

"At last! Finally free!" Paz said while she was stretching. "I can't believe you knew most of the answers to the questions though. You even beat glasses boy!" Paz chuckled. "Yes, they were all fairly easy to answer, considering the fact that I was in all of the events." Haku calmly replied.

"Haha, yeah.. Wait, what?" Paz turned her head to Haku.

"Yes?"

"You just said you were in all of the events or something."

_'Dear goodness. My mouth have trailed off again. My arrogance leads me to a lot of trouble.'_ Haku sighed.

"I don't remember saying so. That is foolish. How would I be alive right at this moment?" Haku replied.

"Right! Duh! My mind suddenly went blank for some reason!" Paz exclaimed.

Paz and Haku strolled around the school. She showed him where the gym was, the field, bulletin boards, and club activity locations. She needed to explain what each of them were for, which she didn't seem to mind. Finally, they reached the back of the school, and sat down under a shady tree. Paz breathed in the fresh air, leaning against the tree, while Haku leaned on the other side, cross-legged; she laughed at this. "What do you find so amusing?" Haku turned to her and asked, "Nothing. It's just the way you act, and talk. It's all weird. I gotta hand it to you, you're different than everybody else in this school. Even the extremely abnormal ones." Paz let out a sigh.

_'I'm that obvious, I see. Now would be the time to ask her about her eyes as well as the name that human from earlier addressed her with..'_ Haku thought to himself.

"May I ask you a question, Chihiro?" Haku asked from the other side of the tree. The way he said _Chihiro_ was almost sarcastic.

_'I nearly forgot! He must have noticed that everyone's been calling me Paz! Shoot.' _

"Y..yeah. Sure."

"Do you remember when we first met?"

"I already told you I have a bad memory, remember?" Paz replied anxiously.

"Oh. I forgot. I was just wondering, because your eyes are far from the color you had back then which were brown, now they are emerald, and others are calling you _Paz_." Haku stated in a stern voice.

"Are you _really_ Oogino Chihiro?" He added, in a more serious tone.

"Well..."_ 'It's now or never. If I make up a big fat excuse about how my eyes turned into this color, I might as well be digging my own grave and bury myself alive.'_

"Well?"

"I actually haven't been completely honest with you Haku. I'm actually-" A familiar voice called out to her.

"Oiiii! Paz! Whatcha doin' over there with the new transfer student? You've been avoiding us the whole day! Chi and I felt really lonely without you!" Shota shouted.

_'Chi...?'_ Haku thought to himself, his eyes narrowed at the person a few meters away from them.

_'Shit. I'm screwed. If Chihiro just happens to be with him right at this moment I'm gonna flip-'_

Suddenly, a figure stepped forward from behind the boy that was waving to Paz.

Haku's eyes widened at the sight of the girl. He remembered it all; her eyes, her hair, and the faint pink blush on her cheeks.

_'Uh oh...'_ Paz said to herself.

She then turned her head to Haku. His eyes were impossible to read, but she could tell he was shocked. His eyes were wide. She turned from Haku and to Chihiro, then back to Haku. She let out a sigh.

_'I'm in deep trouble now.'_

* * *

What did I tell ya, eh? Who knows what will happen in ahead of time for these guys? I'll give you a hint: A _hurtful surprise._

**Hehehe. **I'll try to update as fast as I can for you guys. So keep your eyes peeled, literally.

I kid. c'x _**Adios.**_


	6. Chapter 5: The First Piece of the Puzzle

**A/N: **I was really bored so I decided to write a new chapter, I didn't expect to be finished with writing it so quickly. DON'T GET USED TO MY QUICK, GODLY UPDATES GUYS. :D I'll slow down a bit. Like, two chapters a week. _Deal?_ K. Everyone agrees with me. NOW. ON TO THE CHAPTAH.

**\m/**

* * *

_**Chapter 5: The First Piece of the Puzzle**_

_'Come on, Paz, think! Think! THINK! THINK! God, please let there be something insignificant to this situation cross paths with us! I beg you!'_

Haku began to speak. "Chihiro-" But then a miracle happened. It was a miracle. A miracle indeed. Mr. Himekawa just happened to pass by carrying a huge stack of paperwork, but he managed to waved at all four of us, smiling.

_'Thank you, God. I'm sorry if I only ever ask you for stuff. I'm truly grateful for the miracle that you've given me. Thank you.'_ Paz clasped both of her hands together and held it up towards the sky.

Paz went up to Mr. Himekawa, passing Shota and Chihiro, while dragging Haku along, who was lost in his own thoughts. "Mr. Himekawa! Haku and I would love to give you some help with carrying those paperwork back to the staff room, if you'd like." She smiled, while she was gripping Haku's wrist with both of her hands. Mr. Himekawa stared at the two, and then at their hands.

_'That girl's definitely not Chihiro. I have to admit she looks exactly like her but, Chihiro's eyes were brown. What is she doing with Haku? And what in the name of Yubaba is Haku doing with her?!'_ Lin thought to herself as she looked at an energetic-looking Paz, and a dazed Haku. And behind them, she saw a feminine-looking guy, and a girl that looked exactly like Chihiro.

_'Wait a second.'_ Lin narrowed her eyes at the girl from behind and observed her.

_'That IS Chihiro.'_

_'Out of all the places in the human world. We found her so quickly. I guess fate has its own way of doing stuff. For now, I'll let these two help me carry these first.'_ She then lifted her gaze back at the two in front of her.

"Sure, why not?" Mr. Himekawa smiled back. Paz let out a quiet sigh of relief, and started to take a small stack of paperwork and handed them over to Haku, who seemed to escape from his thoughts. "What..? What are these for?" He asked, trying to figure out what had happened during his short 'absence'. "Oh. Don't you remember? We both asked Mr. Himekawa if he wanted help on carrying paperwork back to the staff room." Haku looked at the smiling teacher before him, then back to Paz. "I see. Where's Chihi-" Before Haku could finish his sentence, Paz and Mr. Himekawa were already ahead. Haku ran after them carefully holding a stack of paperwork with both his hands.

"That's odd. I feel like I've met him before.." Chihiro mumbled. Shota heard this and asked immediately , "What? You've met him before? When? How?" Panic stricken. "I don't know. I just feel like I've met him before."

"What was his name again?" Chihiro asked. Shota was surprised when he heard this,_ 'Why did she suddenly take interest in him? Is it because of his looks? We're about the same level of handsomeness, if I do say so myself.'_ Shota pouted.

"Shota, what was his name? Tell me."

_'Seriously? Maybe she did fall for him..'_

"And why should I tell you?" Shota replied, grinning.

"Because if you don't tell me, I'm not going to let you copy off my English homework, which is next period by the way." Chihiro looked irritated this time. "Blackmailing is quite handy sometimes, am I right?" She added, laughing.

_'Damn it! She used my own line against me. It's just his name anyway. It's better than spending the afternoon doing detention.'_ Shota cursed to himself.

"Fine, fine. You got me. His name was like a really long name, but I've only heard what Paz called him. I think it was Hak.. Haki? No wait, Hako.. Haka.. Hake.. Heku?" Shota trailed off, trying to remember what his name was. Chihiro just shook her head and sighed. Then she was startled when Shota shouted.

"Aha! I remember it now! It was Haku!" He grinned, folding his arms, feeling proud of his small accomplishment of remembering the new transfer student's name.

"Haku.." Chihiro repeated. It sounded so familiar but she couldn't remember what it was. It was at the back of her mind. Chihiro tried to remember it. Pressing on her temples. _'Haku. Haku. Haku.'_ She repeated to herself, trying to remember it. She was getting so close, she could feel it. Shota noticed this, "Chi, what are you doing? You look weird, and crazy like that." He laughed.

_'So close..'_

Suddenly, Chihiro's shiny purple hair tie snapped, letting her hair out in a graceful manner. _'The river..'_ Chihiro muttered to herself as all her energy stored in her body drained from her, she blacked out. She could hear Shota panicking, and calling out to her.

* * *

_...I'm in that dream again._

_I'm drowning in a river.._

_I can't remember how but.._

Chihiro opened her eyes to the warm rays of sunlight. She wanted to cover her eyes from the sun but someone seemed to be holding it. Chihiro turned her head to her side to find a sleeping Shota._ 'Really.. He overreacts too much.. Or maybe he just wanted to skip English since he didn't do his homework'_ Chihiro sighed. The school nurse heard this and walked over to her bed, smiling at the two. Chihiro sat up immediately, "He came in here panicking and kept asking me what was wrong. You have such a sweet boyfriend." , _'What..? Boyfriend? Impossible._' Chihiro said to herself. "No, no. You've got it wrong. We're not going out." The school nurse just smiled. "Well. It seems like you blacked out because of dehydration, or at least, that's what I think. Drink more water and rest, okay? You can return to class when you feel a bit better." She made her way back to her desk, and continued her work.

Chihiro lied back down and let out a sigh._ 'Boyfriend, huh? Never really thought about relationships that much.'_ She muttered to herself and slowly fell back to sleep.

* * *

"Darn it.. my back hurts from carrying those huge piles of paperwork. Considering the fact that we had to carry them all the way to the staff room, which is on the 4th floor." Paz groaned. Haku didn't reply. He just looked straight ahead. "Haku, are you listening to me?" Still no reply, not even a reaction. "Haaakk-" Paz stopped. Haku was glaring at her. "Do not address me in such a friendly way. Please refrain yourself from talking to me."

"I know I lied about my identity but you don't need to be so rude! I wanted to see what your relationship with Chihiro was before I let you meet her, but my plan obviously wasn't the best I've come up with.." Paz looked at Haku. He continued to ignore her. "Aw, come on! What should I do to earn back your trust then?" Paz pleaded. "Trust is not easily rewarded to someone whom I have just met, and also happened to have lied to me about something that was very important." Haku had a serious look on his face. Paz sighed at this, she really didn't want to do this.

_'Well.. here it goes.'_

"I know your_ secret_, Haku." She whispered in his ear. "And I'm going to tell _everyone_ what it is."

Haku stopped, and Paz examined his reaction._ 'She knows? How does she know I'm not a human.. or maybe this is a trap..'_ Haku thought to himself, trying to figure out why, how and when she knew about his secret. He had to think fast, or else she was going to tell everyone. Without giving a second thought, Haku grabbed Paz by the hand and dragged her into one of the empty classrooms.

Haku dragged her into a corner and put both his hands on either side of her so she couldn't escape. Paz was a little shaken by this, her eyes staring directly at his, she started to turn red. Haku was enraged, but Paz was seeing the situation in a different way. Her heartbeat started to speed up._ 'What should I do?! What is he gonna do?! What if someone walks in here?! Is he going to kiss me?! What am I even thinking?!' _She looked a bit flushed, sweating a bit by the tension of the atmosphere, and their 'close' distance. Haku leaned in closer, still looking directly into her eyes.

"What do you know?! Who told you?!" Haku was shouting, his voice was scarier than usual since he usually talked in a calm and sophisticated manner. Paz gulped. Still distracted at how his hands were locking her in a corner, like how most situations happened in shoujo mangas. "I don't know what you're talking about.." She replied, averting her eyes from his. "You're lying. How did you know about my secret?!" He was furious now.

"I knew about your secret because it was obvious!** Ob-vi-ous**!" Paz replied glaring back at him. This time, her cheeks were still red, but it wasn't because she was blushing, she was enraged, but for what reason? She didn't even know herself. She just felt.. angry. Haku made weird hand gestures pointing at the desks and chairs. Her eyes widened when they suddenly moved from their positions, making their way to the both the sliding doors at the front and back of the classrooms, blocking them. This was _definitely_ scary.

There was a sudden beeping sound. Then, the sliding door at the back of the classroom opened and there I saw the rarely seen, student council president, Yamamori Lenka. Haku was startled too when she came in, I thought the president would be more shocked, finding the chairs and desks scattered around the classroom like a tornado had hit it.

She approached Haku and held his wrist gently away from me. "Lord Haku. I shall take care of this matter. Please go wait for me in the car, it is located at the front of the building. I'm not sure if you have noticed but the home bell has already rung." She bowed to Haku, then he left without even looking back. What was going to happen to me? Yamamori smiled as she walked over to me. "Do not be alarmed. It will make it all the more harder for you if you struggle." She closed in on me and blindfolded me with her hands.

* * *

"Chi~ Come with me today to the cake shop! I'm in the mood for some sweets! My treat! I've saved up enough from my allowance so it's okay. Oh, and by the way, here's your broken hair tie. It finally snapped, huh? You've been wearing that for years." Shota grinned and took Chihiro's hand placing the broken hair tie on her palm and closed it, "Thanks.." Chihiro replied, looking rather sad, it was something valuable to her even though she didn't know how she got it in the first place, it just felt.. important. The two walked towards the exit of school, "Wait, Sho, I didn't even say whether I wanna go with you or not-" Something caught Chihiro's attention, and it seems that Shota saw it too. The school council's president was escorting Haku into the car.

"Daaangg... That guy already has the school council president wrapped around his fingers, eh? Just like Paz." Shota chuckled and looked at Chihiro who was staring at the two get in the car and watched as it drove off. Shota waved his hand across Chihiro's face, "Hello? Shota to Chihiro, over." , "What is it?" She replied sounding a bit irritated. "Nothing~ Now, let's go to the cake shoooop!" Chihiro let out a sigh, she didn't have a choice. If she refused, he would have annoyed her about it for a whole week.

"Fine. I'll go."

They had finally arrived at the front of the shop. The cakes that were shown in the display window looked so cute and tasty. Chihiro didn't regret coming. Shota opened the door for her; chiming sounds were heard after the door opened. "Welcome!" shouted a waitress from the reception; she led them to the seats by the window. "Score!" Shota had always acted like a child, almost about everything. But it wasn't a bad thing though, Chihiro found it, somewhat _adorable._

A different waitress came over to our table this time, she smiled at both of us, "Good afternoon, what would you, lovely, young couple, want to order today?", "Ehh?!" Shota replied, turning an obvious shade of red. "M-miss, we're not a couple, were just.. friends." He smiled nervously. "Oh. Because we have this special offer with couples that's been going on for a month, and luckily, today is the last 's a cake that couples can share and eat together, only for the cost of 5600 yen." The waitress looked a bit disappointed, and turned to Chihiro.

"Shota, let's just order the cake." "Wait what?! But-" Chihiro glared at him. "Shota. Let's just share the cake. It's a good deal, this way we won't have to order individually and rip a hole in your pocket. Plus we always used to share our food when we were young." The waitress was smiling this time. "Okay. Will that be all?" Shota nodded slowly. With that, the waitress turned away and walked back to the kitchen.

When the waitress left, the two of them didn't say anything to each other until the cake was placed on the table by the same waitress. "Here you go." The waitress said, smiling, and walked away to serve a couple from another table. Chihiro was still gazing outside the window. "Woah! They're so detailed! Chihiro look!"

Chihiro turned to the excited Shota, and then looked at the cake. It's true, it was an amazingly detailed.. dragon. There were two dragons forming a shape of a heart. _Dragons. _

_'Dragons..?'_ Chihiro thought to herself. She remembered something.

_'That's it! The river! The dream was about me drowning in a river.. but how?' _Chihiro thought to herself as she picked up a fork and began to eat the cake.

_"Thank you for the food!"_

* * *

**Ooh.** The plot _thickens. _I wonder? This chapter's a bit messy. . So sorry. Anyways. Thanks for the nice reviews. It's nice to know people are actually reading my stuff. :o

My replies to some of the reviewers: _( _ Sorry. I couldn't reply to the ones from the guests. I would be all like 'Guest 1, Guest 2.. you know -')_

**Nya sister of fire: **Rin and Len. c:

**NarutoSwag99: **Yeaaa! Look out for the chapter. It'll be called 'Hurtful Surprise' which, unfortunately, is quite a few chapters away... about 4 - 6 chapters away. Or sooner. Idk. And the mail was because I nearly made a huge gap between my chapters, if it weren't for that notice, I would've have messed up. REAL BADLY. So thank you. x'D Plus, you 'indirectly' helped me with this chapter. Hehe.

**WhiteTiger246: **I wouldn't be so sure about that. *evil laff* c:

**Fangirl: **I too, can peel a grape. Those with high intelligence can peel grapes. We're both geniuses. ;D And lol, as much as I'd like to be your personal writing slave, I wouldn't wanna end up like the guy in _Misery. _(You know. The movie by Stephen King? The one where a creepy lady traps a guy who wrote her favorite book in her house?..) o. o'

**LeeshyLoo: **TOO BAD. THEY ALL GOTTA SUFFER FIRST. Jokes. This whole big mess is about to get messier. e U e *creepy smile. D; That sounded wrong. I'm sorry. I'M JUST SAYIN' THOUGH. We're only about to enter the 'dramatic' parts of the story. :p

**THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE AWESOME REVIEWS YOU SUBMITTED~ THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUUUUU U.**


	7. Chapter 6: Wandering Feelings

Hey guys. I'm back with a new chapter. I was really lazy the past few days so, yeah. Here it is.

OH AND I noticed that the last chapter was rushed. Sorry D; I forgot to drag it a bit..

* * *

**_Chapter 6: Wandering Feelings_**

_'This is more tiring than cleaning the tubs in the bathhouse.'_ Lin thought to herself as she arranged her students' homeworks._ 'Good thing the Elder was kind enough to use his powers to give me a bit of knowledge about this job.'_ Lin sighed as she grabbed more paperwork from the side of her desk, and started marking a few homework sheets. She stopped when she saw a familiar name.

_'Yamato Shota'_

_'Yamato Shota..'_ Lin thought to herself for a few seconds trying to remember who he was._ 'Yamato Shota.. Isn't he the guy that always sticks to Chihiro? The same person that's getting in the way of my plans to bring her back. Without him, this would be much easier to do.' _"Mr. Himekawa, Yamato from 2-C is asking for you." Lin looked up and turned her head to the side, seeing her co-worker smiling at her and pointing to the doorway. Lin looked a bit surprised to see the exact person she was thinking of just a few moments ago, leaning on the frame of the door with his arms folded looking back at her. Lin gulped even though she didn't even know why she the slightest bit tense._ 'I have a bad feeling about this..'_

Lin stood up from her seat and calmly walked past her female co-workers who seemed to be looking at her, she didn't mind, even though she had only been working here for a day, she had already gotten used to it. She slowly approached the student and asked, "Is there anything you need from me, Yamato?" Lin smiled at him. Shota began to straighten himself up, and scratched the back of his head, avoiding eye contact with the teacher in front of him. "Uh.. Mr. Himekawa, could I talk to you privately for a second?" Shota asked shyly, blushing a bit. The female co-workers glared at Shota menacingly, in a way that told him, 'Don't you dare take him away from us!' Shota managed to ignore the electric waves that the teachers were sending to him.

"Sure! Anything to help my students with their learning." Soon, Lin and Shota were making their way to the back of the school. On the way, girls were squealing and guys were groaning at the sight of two handsome-faced men wandering around the hallways. Shota ignored them with an irritated aura surrounding him as he was walking, while Lin on the other hand, were waving and smiling to the girls, melting them onto the ground as they dropped on their knees, supported by their friends. They had finally arrived at the back and Lin began to speak, "You could have at least smiled or waved to them, you know.", "Mr. Himekawa, I'm not here to play games. I'm here to ask you for a favor." Shota looked serious. He was staring right back at Lin. "Alright, alright. It depends on what kind of favor you're asking for." Lin eyed the boy suspiciously, _'With this, I'll be able to figure out his motive, and relationship with Chihiro..'_ It was quiet, and Shota took a while until he finally gathered the courage to ask, "I'm here to ask about the new transfer student." Lin's eye narrowed at Shota, he still looked serious, but this time, he also looked a bit agitated.

A smile crept up to Lin's face. "You mean Nigihayami-san?" Shota immediately shot his head to his side, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah.. I mean, aren't you curious about a kid who happens to have transferred from Okinawa with a totally different accent, when there's only a month worth of school left until the year ends?" He slowly turned his head back to find Mr. Himekawa only inches away from his face. "Why?" The teacher asked questioningly as Shota turned red, staggering backwards. "It's due to my own curiosity, okay? I'm sure you're curious about him too. Will you help me get information or not? You did say that you'd help a student with their learning. Learning information about the new student." It was a moment of silence between the two until Mr. Himekawa finally gave an answer, "Sure. I admit that I'm also curious. I guess I could help." With that, Shota dug his hands in his pockets and started to walk away, "Give me the interesting ones only." He said over his shoulder before he started to walk back into the building.

_'Poor child. Has he not heard of the phrase; Curiosity killed the cat? It's not Haku I'm finding information about. It's yours.'_ Lin formed a villainous smile on her face as she made her way back to the staff room to finish off her paperwork.

Behind one of the trees at the back of the school, a familiar blonde-haired boy chuckled to himself, drinking from his water bottle, he had just finished basketball practise. He went to rest at the back of the school, awakened by the conversation between Shota and Mr. Himekawa, he didn't intentionally eavesdrop, he just happened to be resting at the place they were having their conversation in. Running a hand through his hair, "Now, now. That's not good. A teacher helping a student break the rules."

* * *

_'Lin, today Haku will not be attending school as I have to train him how to control his powers as well as his temper. Your mission today will be to observe the girl, I assumed that you have found her, yes? Also, please check up on the young woman whose memories were erased the day before yesterday, just to see if she's alright. Lenka still has not fully developed her powers yet, considering that she's a halfling.' Lin bowed before dismissing herself._

_'Ok. So, I'm supposed to follow Chihiro the whole day. And to check up on the girl whose memories were erased by the Elder's granddaughter because she found out about Haku's 'powers'._

Lin let out a sigh. Having to follow Chihiro the whole day, she would eventually be found out, not to mention the fact that she's taking the role of a male human, of course, it wouldn't be weird following a student that happens to be a girl, around the whole day. Not weird at all. She slid the door to the classroom open, and walked in elegantly, making some of the girls swoon, and as usual, the boys groaned. Lin set down the paperwork on the table, and noticed that there were two empty seats near the windows. _'That's right. I've nearly forgotten that they were both in my history class. Since their original teacher got fired for some reason._' "Mr. Himekawa, why are Paz and the transfer guy not here?" One of the students shot out, "Maybe they both ditched, they're already so close. I'm jealous of Paz." Replied one of the girls. "Everyone, Abana and Nishiyama are both.. erm.. sick today. So they couldn't attend school. Now, in your textbooks, turn to page 366, we're going to be reviewing the last topic we had since most of you failed to reach the standards I set for the homework I gave you." Mr. Himekawa smiled to the class, receiving a groan in return.

_'I guess the girl's not here today. So that means Lenka's power gave her some side-effects? The Elder did say that her powers weren't fully developed since she's a halfling. Meaning that her mother was a mortal. That's rare to see, even in thousands of years. They say that halflings live longer than normal humans, but shorter than spirits. Our breeding system is pretty complicated now that I think about it...'_

* * *

"Psst. Chi. Paz just texted me saying she couldn't come to school today because she had a huge headache when she came home yesterday." Shota sat behind Chihiro at the back of the class, he texted Paz asking why she was absent, looking up from his phone to the teacher from time to time just to make sure he wasn't noticed. "What? How?" Chihiro slightly tilted her head backwards to hear what he had to say. "Well.. she said she couldn't remember anything about what had happen to her after school. She just woke up in front of her house. She mentioned that the only thing she remembered was that she was walking with Haku in the hallwa-" Their conversation came to a halt when they noticed that the teacher had stopped talking. Both of them looked up simultaneously to find their teacher glaring at them. "Yamato, Oogino. Corridors, now." She ordered. The class bursted with laughter as the two of them slumped their way outside, then silenced when the teacher yelled, "Everyone, quiet down!" As she smacked her fist on the chalkboard forming a small crack, sending waves of electricity throughout the whole room.

Meanwhile, outside the classroom, Chihiro and Shota were both whispering among themselves about the situation with their friend. "As I was saying, before she interrupted. She remembered she was walking with Haku in the hallways and that was it. Nothing else." Shota was looking intently at Chihiro. "Nothing?" "Nothing." Both fo them were quiet as they tried to figure out, or at least, imagined, what had happened between the two. "Well.. Maybe, she fainted for some reason? Or- or maybe they were-" Chihiro wasn't paying attention to any of Shota's far fetched possibilities as to how she lost her 'memories' of yesterday after school, instead she was in her own little world, thinking of a certain someone.

_'Haku.. I wonder what happened to him? I heard from one of my friends in his class that he was absent today too. There's definitely something going on between those two. I can't help but feel a bit anxious about all this.. Well DUH, obviously because Paz is my friend! Haha.. ha..'_

_'Right..?'_

"MAYBE. Just maybe. Someone hit her in the head from the back! It could be Haku! Since he was the closest to her!" Shota folded his arms in triumph. "No. Haku can't be the culprit here. He would never do that!" Chihiro gasped at what she had just said, Shota was blinking numerous times trying to process what his friend that he had known for a long time, had just said. _'What the.. I don't even know him that well yet I'm protecting him. Something's wrong with my head.'_ Chihiro looked up at her dazed friend, his mouth was hanging open. "Chi, did you just-" Before he could continue, a door slid open revealing their teacher, whose face didn't seem to have change even from when they were sent out to the corridors for talking. "You two. You can come in now. But, if I hear you two talking in class again. You'll be in charge of a month worth of classroom duties. Got it?" "Yes, ma'am." "Good. Now come in." The two walked back over to their seats in class while some of their classmates were smirking as the two sat back.

_'Great. Now I'll have to wait until lunch break to ask her about it... Or maybe I just overreacting?'_

* * *

"Mr. Himekawa! Please teach us the history homework!" A group of girls approached him holding out sheets of paper, smiling and blushing. "Haha. I'd love to girls, but maybe some other time? I have a whole stack of paperwork waiting for me at the staff room. Sorry!" The young and handsome teacher smiled at them. "Awww..." As the disappointed groups of girls walked away, Chihiro and Shota just happened to pass by the halls, and climbed up the stairs leading to the rooftop.

_'Now if I could only follow them without getting noticed.'_

Lin casually approached the pair from behind, trying not to get noticed. It was all going smoothly until a boy with blonde hair approached them smiling._ 'Well, I guess following them will be taking a while.'_

"Ohh! Key! Hey man. You've been busy with basketball practices these days, eh?" Shota ruffled the boy's hair as he growled back. "Yeah, I know. I miss our times in middle school. I was looking for you guys to ask about Paz. I left my phone at home so.." "Key. If I remember correctly, you liked Paz back in middle school right?" Both of the boys froze and stared back at Chihiro. "Ch-chi. Now, now. Don't need to bring that up! Boys don't like to talk about their feelings remember?" Shota was laughing nervously which made Chihiro even more nervous, "But-" Shota stopped Chi from talking as he immediately shot the back of his hand right in front of her mouth. "No. It's okay bro. And yeah, I did like Paz back in middle school.. and well, I still do." Shota's jaw dropped as he just heard his friend, the Source, confess about his own feelings. Chihiro just stood there dumbfounded, her eyes widened with shock. "Well, I'm off to basketball practices I ditched to look for you guys. The coach is definitely gonna be giving me a hard time once I get back. See ya!" Key jogged back down the stairs, and smirked as he passed by the teacher.

_'Does he know me? Maybe he's in one of my classes..'_ Lin thought to herself as she lifted her gaze back to where the two were standing. Well, used to be standing. They were gone. Lin's sweat dropped as she saw a small pink thread on the floor._ 'This.. it was a gift to Chihiro from Zeniba before she left the spirit world. She must have dropped it.'_ The thought of Chihiro keeping the pink hair tie ever since then made Lin smile as she put the tie in her pocket.

* * *

"Great One, I have found something interesting. It is the pink hair tie that the witch, Zeniba, had given to the human girl, Chihiro, before she left the spirit world. I think this may have been the reason as to why Chihiro lost her memories when she crossed the tunnel." Lin handed the hair tie and bowed to the Elder in front of her as he examined the object. His eyes widened as he felt the amount of power that had been dwelling in the tie for years.

"This is-!"


	8. Chapter 7: Salt

**A/N: **HEEEEEY! Sorry guys. :c I've been depressed. MCR (My Chemical Romance) broke up a few days ago, I just drowned myself in their music the past few days. **YOU WILL BE DEARLY MISSED MCR. **Anyways, here's the new chapter. Enjoy. **Don't forget to review, favorite and follow! ;D**

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_**Chapter 7: Salt**_

"This is witchery!" The Elder placed the elastic thread on the mat.

"Elder, what do you mean by witchery?" Lin saw the expression on the Elder's face. He looked worried as well as enraged by the discovery of what was hidden in the thread.

"Witchery is another term for witchcraft. This is not good. Lin, do you know of anyone who might have given this to the human girl when she was in the spirit world?"

_'The one who gave Chihiro the thread..? I don't have a clue but since it's witchcraft after all, and the Elder made it sound like it was something bad. I'll have to place my bet on Yubaba..'_

"Elder, I am not sure about the one who gave the human this thread, but I do know someone who could have given it to her." Lin knew it was wrong to blame someone without any evidence of their act but that witch, Yubaba, was the closest guess she could think of at the moment who would want to do something horrible to Chihiro.

"Well then, who would that be?" She saw the Elder's expression slowly turning dark and tense, it looked like he was holding all of his anger in, bottling them all up in a small container, ready to shatter.

"Elder, if you don't mind me asking, before I could tell you whom I think it is, why is this a bad thing?" Whatever it was, Lin had to find out, so in the near future when she returns to the spirit world, she could split Yubaba in half with her trusty dagger, which she carried around most of the time.

"Well, you see, this simple-looking elastic piece of thread, has black magic that have been dwelling in it for quite a few years."_ 'Quite a few years right? Ever since Chihiro left the spirit world? But then again it can't be Yubaba because Chihiro wouldn't accept any gifts from her right? Wait.. I forgot that Chihiro's trusting to almost everyone.. even to her.'_ "The cause of her memories being erased, was due to this." The Elder pointed at the thread. "Witchcraft from the spirit world, under any circumstances, cannot be brought into the human world." This hit Lin hard on the head. "Is there any reason as to why it cannot be crossed over to the other side?" "Yes. It ruins the balance of both worlds, as well as to damage the border, the entrance to both worlds. This piece of thread should not have been able to cross, but instead disintegrated before entering this world, but.. the amount of magic it has, it was able to cross unharmed. This will either destroy the link between the spirit world and the human world, making it impossible to leave to the other, or permanently damage the entrance, and spirits can freely enter the human world not needing a huge amount of magic. Both outcomes can cause chaos between the two worlds."

"And now that I have satisfied your curiosity, would you care to tell me who dared to pull such a trick by bringing something like this here?" His tone grew colder and much more serious compared to last time. Lin was making him impatient.

"Yubaba is the closest I could think of. She's a witch that owns the most well-known bathhouse in the spirit world. Haku and I used to work for her. She has the ability to steal people's names and make them forget." Lin was growing unsure of her answer. A feeling of guilt stabbed her from behind. _'No. I'm not backing down on my answer. I'm sure it's her.'_

"Hmm. I see. I shall be looking into it and contact the spirit council immediately before anything else happens. You are dismissed." Lin bowed to the Elder and left the room with a 'What if?' thought hanging from the back of her head. She knew too damn well that what she had just done was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it.

_'Haku's going to school today, isn't he? I wonder what happened with him..'_

* * *

_'Aaaaargh! This is really irritating! Why can't I remember anything?! All I remember was that Haku's mad at me for my 'Chihiro' act but then, I don't remember anything! I don't even know why I'm bothered by this! Screw it, I'm not going to go to school today either then.'_

Paz shook her head and threw her face at her pillow. Why was she even bothered by something like this? She had only met him and they've already fought. And yes, it was all her fault for pretending to be Chihiro in the first place, but she had good intentions! She was being protective of her friend, yes, that was it.

"Paz! Someone's at the front gate looking for you. It's Key!" Natsume yelled from the first floor sounding irritated, as always. He was always grouchy in the morning. "Oiiii. Paaaaaz. You have to go to school today, you know! Shota and Chi's worried about you." A voice came from outside, as Paz quickly sat up on her bed and went over to the window. "Key! What are you doing here?" He just smiled at her with his usual boyish cute smile. "I'm here to make sure you come to school today whether you like it or not, I'll drag you to school if I have to." Paz groaned in defeat. "You got me. I'll be downstairs in a minute.", "Don't take your time! If you haven't noticed, we only have ten minutes left until the bell rings." He added. Paz pulled a face at him before turning from the window and then made her way to the dresser to change into her uniform.

_'She's tardy as usual, still haven't changed a bit. Cute.'_ Key chuckled to himself as he waited for Paz by the gate. He turned around as he heard the front door to her house unlock and a familiar figure stepped out. "I'm off to school!" Paz ran to the gate and cheerfully smiled at Key, which made him turn a bit red. "Yo! I was planning to avoid school today but you had to come and ruin things." She let out a sigh as she unlocked the gate and stepped out, lazily holding her bag as she started walking, Key followed her. "Paz.. you do know that we're going to be late if we just walk, right?" "I know. Why would I wanna run this early in the morning?" She let out a yawn and stretched her arms. "So, I heard you couldn't remember what happened between you and that transfer student after school?" Key was exactly like Shota, blunt, and he asked in such an.. unpleasant way. A way to make you think wrong things. "Yeah, but I don't think it's much of a deal anyway. I was safely returned home. lying at the front gate." Paz chuckled, they were walking peacefully and quietly for a few seconds until Key stopped and suddenly raised his voice, "Are you an idiot?! Not much of a deal?! Are you really that thick-headed?! He could have done something you know! You don't even know him that well!" His face was red, he wasn't blushing, he was obviously angry.

Paz blinked, surprised by the sudden reaction from Key. "What-" "What if he did something to you? Something you can't change. Ever. What if this guy intentionally got close to you because he wanted your body?! Huh?! What will you do then?!" "Key! Stop! What the hell is wrong with you? If anything, I was the one who-" Key turned away tightly gripping his bag. "Look, forget it. I'm going ahead. I'm late for basketball practises." Paz stared at Key as he sprinted towards the direction to the school. _'You're the idiot.. you didn't even let me finish explaining.'_ Paz grunted as she kicked a nearby bin. Why did he suddenly jump to conclusions like that? Maybe he was just overprotective of her? They've been friends for a pretty long time after all.

_'Stupid, annoying, jerk-face! You're not my mother! You better try avoiding me the whole day or I'll kick you in inappropriate places.'_ Paz laughed at her own thoughts. He better be careful today.

* * *

Paz had arrived exactly when the school bell rang. _'Late for basketball practises my ass.'_ Paz mumbled to herself as she saw one of Key's basketball team member walking calmly past the gates, then her attention was brought to the a fancy-looking car that had parked right in front of the gates, drawing everyone's attentions and a few people gasping._ 'Show off.'_ She smirked as she saw the car door open and a familiar girl stepped out and stood beside the car door holding it, as soon as she got out, another familiar figure stepped out of the car. It was Haku. And he was with the school council president.

...

Wait _what_? They both came out of the same car. That must mean..

"EEHHHH?!" Paz looked at the two in disbelief, everyone else seemed to have the same expression Paz had. Could it be that the school council president and the good-looking new transfer student possibly be living under the same roof? Rebellious lovers going against the school rules?_ 'But I thought Haku liked Chihiro?! Now I'm confused..'_ Paz noticed the school council president glance at her from the corner of her eye, as she followed behind Haku like some maid servant. Haku seemed to have noticed Paz but chose to ignore her. _'The Elder have sacrificed his own time to teach you how to control your temper. Control it, you useless fool!'_ Haku gritted his teeth as he made his way to the entrance of the building.

_'How can I get his trust back now..?'_ Paz sighed and continued to walk towards the school building. "Paz!" She turned her head and saw her two closest friends waving and smiling at her. This lightened up her mood a bit, after getting yelled at by Key and finding out that (assuming) the school council president, Hisa Lenka, and the new transfer student, Nigihayami, had been living under the same roof. Paz stood still on the spot as she waited for Shota and Chihiro to catch up. "Where were you yesterday!? We were worried sick!" Chihiro hugged her. "Yeah! Key was worried too, he even ditched his practise to come looking for us just to ask about you." Shota grinned. Chihiro immediately let go. "Oh! And he also said that-", "Chi! We're going to be late for class! Let's get a move on! You too, Paz!" Shota scolded.

_'That was close. Chihiro can be incredibly clueless sometimes when it comes to feelings. I hope Paz doesn't ask about it any further though.. Whatever, I'll just grab Chi and run.'_

Shota quickly held Chihiro's hand and ran away towards the entrance of the building, he was laughing happily while Chihiro called him names and telling him to stop being an idiot, just like how it was back then in middle school._ 'I already know.. You don't have to rub it in my face.'_ Paz let out another sigh and continued to walk to the building. It's a painful feeling to be stuck with those two everyday but they were her friends. They were important to her. She didn't want her own feelings to get in the way of those two's relationship, that would be selfish.

Suddenly, her eyes began to feel as if someone had thrown a pinch of salt in her eyes. It stung. In other words, it hurt like hell. She hadn't cried about this ever since that incident in middle school. A tear formed in the corner of her eye, as soon as it reached her chin, more and more tears came flowing out. _'What is this? This is unusual..'_ Paz nervously chuckled to herself. She looked at her surroundings, the bell had already rung a few minutes ago, and everyone had already went in. No one was there. No one but herself, and her alone.

Slowly, she dropped to her knees as her bag fell on the ground. The more she tried to control her tears, the more it got harder to handle, so she just let it go. She bit her lip, still trying to hold them off. It was too late. The tears wouldn't.. couldn't stop. As if a small voice in her head was telling her that it was okay to cry. The tears that she had kept inside for a long time has decided it was time she released them, to start a new beginning, and maybe, even a new love. She continued to let the tears flow out, as she wailed.

_'I give up. I don't care anymore.'_

* * *

We have Friday off of school! So I'll be writing the next chapter by then! Look forward to it :D

**Don't forget to review, favorite and follow. *u* Or I'll turn up in your room in the middle of the night with a bloody knife. (e U e)~ **


	9. Chapter 8: A Plan of Action

**A/N: **Enjoying my holidays so far~ Here's the new chapter. c: **Don't forget to review, favorite or follow. :D**

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_**Chapter 8: A Plan of Action**_

Key stood frozen in his spot in front of the school gates staring at the crying girl only a few meters away from him. She was on her knees, hands trembling as she tried hard to wipe away her tears with the sleeve of her uniform. He felt guilty. He should have listened to her explanation, she wasn't _that_ incapable of taking herself. Why did he have to get mad at her? Is he the reason as to why she was crying? And most importantly..

Why wasn't he doing anything about it?

The cheerful girl he had loved since middle school, is now on her knees, crying, in front of him. But he wasn't doing anything. He just stood there, staring at her like an idiot. As much as he wanted to run to her and just hug her the whole day. What if he was the reason she was crying in the first place?_ 'I can't just be doing nothing..'_ Key slowly took a step forward towards the girl. He was trembling too. Slightly sweating, he carefully took small steps forward, bit by bit, as if there were landmines scattered everywhere, he made his way towards Paz. Key paused when the crying sound stopped. The girl stood up, wiping away her tears one last time with her lightly damp sleeves, brushed her hair off her face and picked up her bag that was lying on the ground. She dusted herself off before walking towards the building.

Key quietly sighed, facepalming himself. _'I bet she hates me now..'_

* * *

The door slid open revealing a somewhat depressed-looking girl that had been crying all night after a break-up with her boyfriend. The whole class' attention were now on her, even the teacher. "Abana. What happened to you? You look.. I'm not even going to lie, you look horrible. And you're late!" Mr. Himekawa scolded. "Sorry. I tripped." Paz spoke in a monotone voice as she headed for her seat beside the window. The whole class continued to stare at her as she sat down, her head facing the window, trying hard not to look at the person beside her seat. "Well.. moving on. Class, we will be having a field trip tomorrow to Kyoto!" The class cheered with excitement, and started talking to each other about what they lpan to do there and such, until Mr. Himekawa cleared his throat, signalling the class to quiet down because he wasn't finished talking. "More like a hiking trip to Mt. Yura." That one simple sentence practically shot down the whole 'excitement' thing. The class groaned at this. "But, don't worry, you will have time to do a bit of sightseeing. The buses leave early at 9.45 am. Be here before 9.30 so we can prepare and do a roll check."

"Yeeeees." The whole class replied

"Now, onto the next subject. English." Mr. Himekawa talked away, while the others were secretly napping, girls putting their makeup on, and some of the guys.. just being 'themselves'. Paz sighed, looking out the window. _'I hope this period ends quickly. It's too awkward for me to handle sitting next to this guy.'_ She glanced at the corner of her eye. Haku was staring ahead, his eyes and expressions, emotionless. They rarely change, only when he starts talking about.. Chihiro. _'Of course..'_ Paz averted her eyes away, and slowly drifted asleep.

...

"You. Wake up. I will leave you here if you do not awaken within ten seconds. The signal bell has rung. I was asked by the teacher to wake you up."

...

Her eyes shot up. Still not wanting to make eye contact with him. Good thing she slept facing the window._ 'I'll just pretend to be asleep until he leaves.'_ Paz closed her eyes once again, her eyelashes shaking. Her eyelashes wouldn't keep still. Haku walked in front of her desk and observed her eyes. He could tell she was already awake. Haku walked towards the exit of the class. "I know you're awake." With that, Paz heard the sliding door closing. She let out a sigh._ 'I can't take this anymore! His presence pisses me. I shouldn't have the right to be mad at him. I know.. but still!'_ Paz stood up from her seat and stormed out of the classrooms and out into the hallways. One of her classmates blocked her path, "Hey guys look! It's Paz the Uggglll-" Paz shoved him aside, luckily caught by his friends. If they hadn't caught him in time, with Paz's arm strength, he would have hit the floor unconscious with a bleeding head.

"..She's scary when she's in a bad mood." The guy stood up rubbing his left arm and dusting himself off. It wasn't everyday you get to see her in a bad mood because she was always playful and cheerful. An incredibly bad mood that was enough to make her shove someone aside with tremendous strength. "I second that." One of them chuckled. "Can't believe you got caught off-balance by a girl!" The group of boys playfully laughed and teased their friend. "Oh grow up you guys, I was caught off guard because she usually fights back with words not violence."

Paz continued to make her way to the staircase leading to the rooftop, until she heard footsteps, and familiar voices close by. "Sho. If you drag me again while I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone, especially Paz, I'll claw your eyes out. It's rude." A girl scolded. "Haha.. sorry.." A guy's voice, sounding sheepish. _'Tch..'_ The exact voices she wasn't in the mood to hear at the moment. It fueled her anger even more. She quickly ran up the staircase and opened the door leading to the rooftop, slamming it behind her. "AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Paz screamed in frustration as loud as she could. The voice that wanted to scream, the voice that used to be stuck in her throat the past few years, it contained her feelings. She wanted to scream out all the anger and pain she felt until she couldn't speak. Then, she heard a groaning sound from behind.

"Could you not yell so loudly? There are people trying to sleep on the rooftop. Well, more like a person trying to sleep on the rooftop." A blonde boy ruffled his hair, irritated by the interruption to his precious nap. Paz was startled and quickly turned around. Key looked up at the shadowy figure, and when he finally managed to fully open his eyes, she was there. The girl who was crying this morning. And the reason for that, was him. "So? Don't act like you're innocent. I didn't appreciate your tone of voice towards me this morning." Key rose to his feet, slowing backing away from the girl who was taking heavy steps towards him while she was pounding her her fists together, her eyes filled with rage. Key felt cold metal touch his back, he was now on the edge of the railing, he couldn't get out of this one. Unless he jumps. Wait no, that's not possible. Getting beaten up is better than dying. Key gulped as Paz closed in on him, grinning. _'Time to meet my fate.'_

Paz stopped, just three steps away from him. "I'd like an apology." She smiled at him.

"Huh?" Paz kept on grinning. "You owe me an apology for yelling at me this morning for no reason at all." He just looked at her. Silence.

...

"I'm waiting."

...

It was a perfectly sunny day. The sound of nature, girls talking and gossiping, the sports that were happening in the school field, the blue skies, the relaxing smell of the fresh air, and two close friends having a conversation at the top of a school building.

"Paz.. Do you remember that time in middle school when all four of us; me, you, Sho and Chi, we would always sit together at the rooftop?"

Key smiled at the sky, but his eyes were.. almost sad and distant. Paz noticed this and the need for an apology she had just a second ago, had faded. Her breathing was calmer now.

"Yeah. I miss those times.."

A sudden gust of wind went right past her face causing strands of her hair to cover her face, as Paz slowly reached to get her hair out of the way, Key held her hand, and used his other hand to gently remove the hair out of her face. She blankly stared back at him, confused with what he had just done, he smiled at her kindly. He simply wanted to be a gentleman and put the hair aside. Or at least that's what Paz thought. He slowly let go of her hand and lifted his gaze back to the sky.

"Then.. do you remember that time after graduation when I asked you to meet me here?"

"Yeah.. I didn't really get the reason for why you asked me to come just to say you liked me. Did you think I didn't like you back as a friend?" Key laughed, which made Paz all the more puzzled. She stared at him perplexingly. "Even now, you really don't get it do you?" Key turned his head to look at Paz, she shook her head. "Am I supposed to?" Key walked towards Paz and ruffled her hair, smiling. "What do you think?" Paz fixed her hair, and Key made his way to the door. "You know, Shota's not the only one oblivious to situations here." Key exclaimed over his shoulder before going down the stairs, closing the door behind him._ 'I don't get him. I already know Chihiro's oblivious. He didn't have to point that out. Sheesh.'_ Paz walked towards the railing and observed the lively atmosphere of the school, she sat down leaning against the rails, and looked up, using her arms to cover her eyes from the blinding sun._ 'Or maybe he was talking about me?'_

* * *

"Mr. Himekawa. It seems that you've been getting a lot of student visitors lately. Mostly female, and this time it's the student council president." One of the male teachers chuckled as he gestured at the girl patiently waiting by the staff room door. "Haha.. Yes. I wonder why." Lin nervously stood up from her desk and pushed her chair in. She smiled as she approached the blank-faced Lenka by the door. "Mr. Himekawa. I'm here to deliver a message from grandfather. May I borrow your time to discuss them with you?" Lin was a bit surprised to know that the Elder had her granddaughter to deliver a message to her, this was probably something that involved the witchery. An emergency, maybe?

Lenka led the insecure Lin to the student council meeting room. She gestured Lin to sit on one of the chairs by the window. They both sat down and before Lenka had any chance to speak, "Does this have anything to do with the witchery?" Lin's expression became serious. Lenka simply nodded at her question. "My grandfather examined the thread with magic last night, coming to a conclusion that the thread did not actually erase the human's memories." Lin's eyes widened with surprise, hope began to fill her head. _'This way.. Chihiro might actually reconsider to go back to the spirit world with us, right? Even though it's selfish..'_ Her thoughts were interrupted as Lenka continued to speak. "But, instead it was a shield. It was a barrier to protect the memories she had of the spirit world, from the beholder's conscience. Thus, making these memories act as if they never existed, or at least invisible.", "Then, her memories.. will she-?" "Yes. She will eventually remember them with the hair tie out of the way. But, that is the problem, it's why I was asked by grandfather to discuss it with you." The atmosphere between the two had suddenly become severe. Lenka's face turned dark, it looked exactly like the expression the Elder had made when he found out about the black magic used in the hair tie.

"You see, grandfather, or should I say, the spirit council, has assigned you on a mission."

_'Anything that involves the council always ends up messy. Could it be the spirit council that's behind this whole mission..?'_

"A mission..?" Lenka noticed that Lin looked agitated, she was fidgeting her fingers. "Do not worry. It's not a murder task." Lin let out a sigh of relief, because usually when the spirit councils sent out missions, they would involve shedding blood, which Lin wouldn't mind doing if it was to murder Yubaba. "You must keep the human girl away from Lord Haku until the flow of her memories have calmed down. Or else." Lenka glared at Lin, sending shivers down her spine. "Or else..?" Lin was even more anxious now. The reason she came here was to bring Haku and Chihiro together as fast as possible. What could she do if the spirit council specifically ordered her to keep them away from each other? "Lord Haku will trigger her memories. The human's memories will then start flowing back to her in a split second. It'll become too much for the brain capacity to handle in one go. It can possibly damage her brain, or fall into a coma, never to awaken." Lin's mouth was wide open, her brows furrowed, trying to keep her tears from escaping. "That is why you must not let them meet. You will have to wait for her memories to slowly recover by itself." Lin nodded. She managed not to let her tears come out. "Are you going to tell him?" "Yes. Grandfather also requested me to tell Lord Haku about this, so the task is easier to handle."

_'I wonder how Haku will feel about this..'_

Lenka stood from her seat. "Please stay, I will make tea. It will calm your nerves."

* * *

Paz wandered down the halls buried deep within her own thoughts.

_'So.. how will I get that unsociable guy to forgive me? Lock him up in the equipment room during P.E? Too bad he's not an idiot, otherwise he'd fall for it.'_ Paz sighed. She needed to think of a plan, and fast before he starts hating her any further. _'Maybe I should read some shoujo mangas and see if they have similar situations or something..'_

"Dude, I can help you go out with her if you want." A guy was talking with his nervous-looking friend. "I know, I know. But she likes you, not me." "Yeah but I don't like her. It's the least I could since you helped me last time." Paz stopped and eavesdropped on their conversation. "How are you gonna set us up though?" "I'll ask her to meet me by the field after school, then instead of me, you'll be the one coming." "That might actually work.. even if it's deceiving her, I'll do what it takes to confess. Thanks man." "No problem."

_'That's it! I know what I'm going to do..'_ Paz took out her phone from her pocket and texted Chihiro.

' Chihiro. Meet the back of the school after school today. I need to tell you something important. In private. Shota can't some, sorry. \(^0^)/ - Paz '

_'Good. Step one complete. Now, I just need to write a letter to Haku and put it in his shoe locker without him noticing.'_

Paz hurried to the classroom, and grabbed her bag. Luckily, no one was there. She took out a random textbook and ripped a page from it and began to write.

' Nigihayami. I need to talk to you about something important. Please meet me at the back of the school building after school. It's about Chihiro. - Paz '

_'Heh. I'm a genius. If I wrote that I only wanted to talk to him, he wouldn't have come. But since it involves Chihiro, he's sure to come, right?'_

Paz felt her phone vibrate. She quickly flipped her phone open, she got a reply from Chihiro:

' Ok. He's got detention after school anyway （；¬＿¬). See you. ^^ ~ Chi.'

_'Perfect. Everything's going according to plan. Haku's surely going to forgive me for this right?' Paz grinned to herself as she relaxed on her desk putting her feet up._

_'Maybe I should go to that new cake shop that opened around the block after school..'_


	10. Chapter 9: Apology

**READ~**

Heyyy :D How was everyone's Easter holidays? c:

AND OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

THE CLOUDS ARE PINK RIGHT NOWWWWW.

*^* I rarely get to see this. Like, once a year at most?

sdugfsdkjhfgkhfs. ON TO THE STORY!

* * *

_**Chapter 9: Apology**_

_'Man.. this sucks. I could be with Chi right now eating cake._' Shota sighed as he twiddled with his pencil and began doodling on the piece of paper in front of him._ 'I'm too lazy to write a whole essay as to why I'm in detention.. Don't I always prank people? This should be normal by now.'_

He glanced over to see others in the room with him. Most of them he didn't know, some were his friends and.. Key? Shota narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy at the far corner of the class, his chin supported by his hand and yawning.

_'What the hell is he doing here..?' He was always a goody-goody..'_ Shota mumbled to himself.

Key noticed Shota staring him down and decided to write notes. Key picked up his pencil and started writing on the piece of paper on his desk and showed it to Shota.

_'What are you staring at? .'_

Key waited for a reply as Shota turned to his piece of paper and began to write something.

_'How did you end up in detention? e^ e'_

_'I was late for basketball practises. You? :3 '_

_'Prank. ( ; = 3=)'_

Key smirked loudly at Shota's last message, drawing everyone's attention to him. "..What?" He stuttered, attempting to play it off smoothly. Everyone went back to minding their own business while Key sent death glares to Shota, getting him to turn around, Shota put a hand just at the front of his mouth followed by an _'In your face (e U e)'_ expression and snorted. Key was about to stand up from his seat and stomp his way over to grinning Shota's desk andsmack his head.

The sliding door opened and a teacher came in.

"Listen up, delinquents. I'm in a pretty happy mood today. I'll let you skip out on the cleaning duties today, so you can leave as soon as you finish those essays~ And I can leave early to my girlfriend~ "

The whole room cheered as they started on their essays.

_'Yesss! I'm nearly done Chi~'_ Shota grinned to himself as he happily wrote the first few sentences of his essay.

* * *

Students stared and sweat-dropped at Paz, who was happily skipping along the halls.

_'Can't wait to go home~'_ Paz hummed to herself, not noticing the attention she was drawing from the people around her._ 'I wonder if Haku's gotten the letter by now..'_ She thought. Thinking if he was even going to come or not, because then Chihiro would be waiting all by herself at the back of the school. She'd hate me for that.

Paz ran down two flights of stairs to the shoe lockers, just to see if Haku had already seen the letter she put in his locker half an hour ago while he had P.E. She slowly approached Haku's locker to see if the letter was still there. Seeing a folded piece of paper on top of his outdoor shoes, Paz let out a sigh.

_'Damn. It's still there. I'll make sure he reads it.'_

She hid herself behind Haku's shoe locker row and waited.

_'The bell rung 25 minutes ago.. what the hell is he doing?'_

Her thoughts were interrupted by voices, she looked around to see if anyone else was there besides her. Right then, she saw Lenka and Haku having a conversation besides the shoe lockers two rows from her.

"Lord Haku. You understand what this means, don't you?"

_'Lord Haku..? Is he royalty!? That would describe his way of talking..'_ Paz thought to herself as she continued to eavesdrop in the two's conversation.

"..Yes. I will do whatever it takes."

"Well then, please take care on your way home." Lenka bowed to Haku and walked away.

_'They DO live together! I knew it! But why?'_ Paz mumbled to herself, amazed at how her 'guess' wasn't wrong after all. She felt somehow.. disappointed. Paz shook her head vigorously. _'Not the time to be thinking that right now. Haku should be heading to his locker, I have to hide somewhere else.'_ She scurried off to a nearby vending machine and hid beside it, watching Haku as he calmly went over to his locker.

_'Come on.. read it already. Why are you so slow?! She's waiting for you!'_

Paz continued to watch as Haku unfolded the piece of paper and began to read. He rubbed his temple and let out a sigh, crumpling the piece of paper, throwing it in the rubbish bin and walked out of the school building. Paz looked at Haku with disbelief.

_'Are you f... Are you serious?! Is he going or not!?'_

Paz stared at the figure who was slowly walking further and further away from the building like nothing happened.

_'Whatever. I'm goinna chase him down, then, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind and maybe even a small gift of gratitude to his face.'_ Paz stormed off and followed after Haku.

As she was about to yell out to him, he stopped, turning to his right and headed towards the back of the school. He didn't even notice Paz was standing just a few feet away from him with her fist up high in the air. She stood there dumbfoundedly.

_'..I don't get him! Seriously! What was up with crumpling the piece of paper and throwing it away, then suddenly..?!'_ Paz grunted, kicking the ground.

_'Just to make sure.. I'll go see how their conversation goes.'_

_'You better thank me for this, Haku.'_

* * *

The school was peaceful after school. It was quiet, and all you could hear were the sounds of the sports practices going on in the field. All Haku could hear were the soft ruffling of the grass as he cautiously made his way to the back of the school, trying to avoid a special someone for their own sake.

_'This better be good..'_ Haku mumbled to himself as he reached the back of the school. He looked around.

No one was there.

_'I have no time for this.'_ He grumbled to himself as he turned away to face the direction where he came from, ready to go back home. The vehicle was waiting for him._ 'I should be more careful.. what if Chihiro's just around here..' _

He stopped when he heard a slight rustle of the grass from behind the tree. 'Paz' was there, leaning behind it. Looking at the ground, well, it looked more like she was sleeping because her eyes were closed._ 'If she invites someone to talk, it's only etiquette to be devoted to it like staying awake until the other party arrives.'_

Haku sighed and slowly walked towards the he got closer and closer, Haku began to feel amazed at how, she and Chihiro, looked so much alike.

He bent down next to her. Next to 'Paz'.

"What is it this time?" Haku stared at the sleeping 'Paz'. _'Even I could get confused between them.. but of course, their eye colors would..'_

"What took you so long?" She yawned, stretching her arms. The girl lazily rubbed her eyes. "Awaken. You were the one who was sleeping when I got here. You've kept me waiting, as well as my escort. It's rather rude"

The girl turned to Haku, and opened her eyes to see a familiar face. Both of their eyes widened.

To Paz, this was _all _exactly going according to plan.

_'Her eyes.. This is not... What's Chihiro doing here?! I've been tricked!' _Haku thought to himself, infuriated.

The two continued to stare at each other, speechless. Not one word coming out of each other's mouth.

Chihiro unconsciously motioned her hand to the frame and of his face, gently caressing it as if she was trying to remember something. Haku felt lost in her hazel eyes, suddenly,all the things Haku and Lenka discussed earlier turned invisible.

"..I feel like I know you." Chihiro looked at Haku with such tenderness and longing. But, that wasn't all of it. She felt something else.

Both of them didn't notice their surroundings, it felt like it was just two of them. Everything else.. didn't seem to matter.

Shota stood frozen on one spot with an emotionless expression as he continued to look at Chihiro caressing Haku's face, staring at each other, like they were.. well.._ in love_. But they barely knew each other. Or at least that's what Shota told himself.

_'She did say that she might have met him before.. but.. I've been with her for years.. Longer than him.'_ Shota furrowed his brows and tightly gripped his bag. _'Tch.. They're not even noticing me.'_

_'Perfect! Haku will forgive me for this right..?'_ Paz thought to herself, slightly turning her head to the side to see an emotionless Shota staring at the scene before him. Her eyes suddenly filled with rage.

_'Hurts doesn't it?'_

Paz continued to watch as Shota walked away then averted her eyes back to the two. Chihiro looked happy, but Paz couldn't see Haku's expression because he had his back on her.

_'Well.. I've done my job for today. I'm going home to prepare for the field trip tomorrow.'_ Paz sadly smiled to herself, not noticing, she turned her back on them and began to walk home.

In the meantime, Mr. Himekawa was watching everything from the window on the second floor._ 'Those kids.. why isn't Chihiro giving any reaction? Isn't she supposed to be fainting right about now?' _

_'I was about to jump down from the second floor too..' _Lin chuckled to herself.

* * *

"Why.. does your touch feel so familiar?" Chihiro put her hand back down to her side. Haku wanted to say something but he couldn't find the right words. He wanted to tell her something, but his mind was all tangled up. Chihiro stood up from her spot and Haku's eyes continued to follow her, soon, he did the same.

"I don't really know why but, I think we met before."

_'Remember it Chihiro..'_ Haku thought to himself.

"Well.. I hope we can talk again some other time. I'm waiting for a friend to finish detention." Chihiro chuckled and smiled at him before running off.

_'Fool! Why didn't you talk?!'_ Haku grumbled to himself before. Then, the thought hit him. _'Paz.. right? Though she lied to me at first.. Maybe her intentions weren't bad..? I misunderstood.. didn't I?'_ Haku didn't notice himself slightly smiling as he walked back to the front gates.

From afar, Haku saw Lenka talking to the driver, as he got closer, he realized that Lenka was scolding the driver because Haku was supposed to be escorted home half an hour ago.

"I will have grandfather fire you if you make this mistake again. Lord Haku could easily get lost! He is a very important guest. If we were to lose him.." Lenka couldn't finish the sentence because she felt a nearby presence, and turned her head to see Haku.

"Lord Haku! Where have you been? You were supposed to be escorted home half an hour ago." The worried expression she had on her face faded.

"I had some.. business to take care of. I apologize, but I'm here now. Please escort me home."

"Yes, of course." Lenka opened the car door for him. He went inside and Lenka followed. Soon, the car the driving off. As usual, the car was quiet. All they could hear were the engine, and the other cars zooming past them. The car was driving along a convenience store when Haku caught a glimpse of Paz by the shop window.

"Wait. Could you stop the vehicle for a minute? I must take care of something."

Lenka signaled the driver from the back seat to stop the car. He turned the keys and the engine sound stopped. The driver got out of the car and opened the door for Haku.

"Lord Haku. Grandfather is expecting us to be home early today. We still have more to discuss about.. that object." Haku nodded back to Lenka and went off to approach Paz that had just walked out of the store while happily eat an ice cream block, carrying a plastic bag filled with snacks.

"Good afternoon." Paz turned around to see Haku and grinned at him.

"Why, hello there." She greets him with a sarcastic tone.

...

"Th-" Haku was cut off.

"No. Don't thank me. It's the least I could do after lying to you about being.. Chihiro and all."

"Yes.. Well, that is true."

"I didn't do it with bad intentions, you know."

"I know."

That reply from Haku surprised her a bit. _'I know..? Is that it? I thought he'd be mad like last time..'_ Paz thought.

"Welllll.. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget about the field trip. Get to school early. Byeee!" Paz ran off, the plastic bag full of snacks she was carrying rustled loudly as Haku stood on the same spot in silence.

_'Is this how humans apologize?'_ Haku smiled to himself as he walked back to the car with the driver waiting for him.

* * *

"No reactions at all? Nothing?" The Elder asked Lin with a surprised look on his face.

"Nothing.. but she _did _somehow caress his face." Lin replied, looking back at the Elder.

"That is indeed unusual.." The Elder mumbled. "That means there is only one explanation as to why she didn't have a reaction."

Lin's eyes widened.

"But that means...!" Her eyes were desperate, this wasn't possible.. right? Everything was just starting to play out smoothly! Why did it have to happen at the starting point of the progress?

"Yes.."

_'We might have to go back sooner than we thought.'_ Lin cursed to herself.

"Someone crossed the border."

* * *

Lin grabbed the knife that she always kept in her heel and dashed towards the Elder, ready to attack him. All this time.. Why hadn't she noticed before?! The Elder was a part of Yubaba's plans. It explained everything. The hair tie, erasing the memories of that girl, why Haku was suddenly taken in by him and why he agreed to letting Lin stay in the human world although she was only a normal spirit. She gritted her teeth at the thought of the betrayal of the Elder, especially the fact that Yubaba was playing with them the whole time like marionettes. Lin lunged at him, anger written all over her face, she was inches away from the Elder.

Then stopped because she realized that this was the author's April fool prank for the readers.

...

...

**...**

**:D**

**...**

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! I was late so.. yeah. That was lame. =.=


	11. Chapter 10: Coincidence

_~ Simple explanation to why it took a week to update: ~_

_I was lazy-__** busy.**_

_Aaaand because I was slacking off from time to time, getting distracted and such._

_AND THE MATH AND SCIENCE TESTS._

_AAAAGHHHH. D; ENJOY._

* * *

**_Chapter 10: Coincidence_**

"Yoshita Seito?"

"Here.

"Kagayami Yuuya?"

"Present."

Warm weather, a bit windy and rays of sunshine projecting throughout the yard on the front gates. Today, class 2-B will be going on a field trip, more like a hiking trip actually, to Kyoto. It was exactly ten minutes before the departure of the buses, one of the teachers came over to talk to mr. Himekawa which delayed the schedule a bit.

"Mr. Himekawa, I am so sorry to have you do this. The travel to Kyoto will be pretty harsh. Again, I apologize but it's not like we have a choice, now do we?" A male teacher scratched the back of his neck and sheepishly smiling at Lin.

"It can't be helped. I don't think my class and I would mind. After all, the more the merrier!" Lin smiled back and patted the shoulder of the teacher. One of the female students approached the two having a confused look on her face. "Is there another class joining us?"

Everyone in class 2-B's attention were all pointed at the three. "What?! Which class is it?! I hope it's 2-A! They have all the cute girls there!" The girls heard this statement and instantly gave off death glares towards the guy, almost as if he was being cursed to his death. Questions were now being directly shot at both of the teachers. "Now, now. Since the council funds got a bit chaotic, were one bus short so we will have to share our bus. They're on their way here. Class 2-A."

Almost all the girls squealed. "Oh my god! I can't believe we get to share our bus with Class 2-A's Yamato Shota!" All girls, except for one particular person who looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep, Paz.

"Paz! What happened to you?" A girl came rushing over to Paz, looking half worried and excited at the same time.

"I was too excited so I couldn't sleep." Paz let out a sigh, this wasn't good. She could faint at any moment. The girl chuckled and patted her back. "Well, I guess you're going to be suffering from here on out, because Yamato's class is going to be merging with ours!" She happily clasped her hands together and hopping excitedly as she began babbling on to Paz about her special plan to make Yamato 'hers'.

_'Ugh. This always happens whenever I go to a field trip. I end up keeping myself awake until 4am in the morning planning my day.'_ Paz slouched her way towards the bus, until she heard screaming, not the bad kind, the fangirling kind. And whenever there's fangirling around, there's always trouble, and whenever -

"Okaaay. Is everybody present?" Mr. Himekawa checked the roll once again.

"Mr. Himekawa, Nigahayami's not here yet." One of the guys shouted from the bus window. Paz turned her attention to Mr. Himekawa.

"Ah, yes. He informed me this morning that he will be going to Kyoto by car. It's going to be following our bus."

"How lucky." A guy groaned.

Paz couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.. for some reason. She shrugged it off and continued to climb the stairs but someone pulled her hand from behind causing her head to turn around to see an angry Chihiro and a blank-faced Shota.

"Paz! How could you? You ditched me yesterday! I waited for you! I even took a nap." Chihiro puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on her hips. Paz glanced at Shota from the corner of her eye, then back to Chihiro. "Sorry. I forgot that I had to do a bit of shopping yesterday.. did anything else happen?" Her glance returned to Shota, who seemed to look interested in what Chihiro had to say, looking at her with a lonely gaze.

"Well.. I did meet the transfer student. We had a small chat. He seems nice."

_'Small chat, huh?'_ Shota mumbled to himself. "Did you say something, Shota?" Paz asked in a sarcastic tone, almost as if she was mocking him, actually she _was _mocking him. Chihiro turned her gaze to him.

"Nothing. I was just talking to myself." He chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm gonna go ahead. The guys are calling me." He ran up the stairs to the bus and went over to friends who were already sitting on their seats.

"He's been distant ever since this morning." Chihiro let out a sigh.

_'Did she really not see him yesterday? He was standing at a pretty open spot. I've underestimated her level of denseness.'_ Paz thought.

"Just out of curiosity, is Nigihayami here today?" Paz looked at Chihiro, a bit surprised at her straight-forward question. "Yeah.. but he's going to Kyoto by car." She narrowed her eyes at Chihiro, who looked a bit distressed. "I see.. well, since Shota's going to be sitting with his friends, do you want to sit together?"

_'If he hadn't gone with them, you wouldn't have chosen me.'_ Paz said to herself, feeling frustrated.

"Sure."

* * *

"Lord Haku, we will escort you back home in approximately 4 hours from now. Please enjoy your trip." Lenka bowed to Haku before closing the car door and driving further and further away.

"Nigihayami! Over here. We're going to do a roll check." Lin waved to Haku who was across the street from them.

'Roll check?' Haku thought to himself as he made his way over, approaching the crowd of students. He noticed Paz was there, and someone was clinging onto her arm. It was Chihiro.

The sight of her made Haku's eyes widen, remembering what happened the day before. That time after school when it was only the two of them. Alone. At the back of the school. Haku rubbed his temple and furrowed his brows. His heart rate increasing little by little. 'This was the same feeling I got years ago.. wasn't it? That time when we held hands.' He couldn't help but smile at the nostalgic feeling.

"Okay, you lot, listen up, now that we've finished the roll check. I have a small box right here, and inside are the names of the people in Class 2-A. Now, students from my class, randomly choose a piece of paper, read the name and find your partner. " Lin held up a box and each student began to take pieces of paper out of the box.

Paz clasped both of her hands together before taking a piece of paper. _'Anyone but him. Anyone but him. Please, God, have mercy.'_ She chanted to herself. She slowly unfolded the piece of paper, as soon as she saw what was written, she ripped it up, dropped the pieces on the ground and stomped on them angrily. "Abana! What are you doing?" Mr. Himekawa rushed over to Paz.

"Sorry, but is there any chance that I could choose another one? Or at least swap with someone?" Paz chuckled nervously.

"Unfortunately, no. This is a chance to socialize with the other class. Who did you get?" Mr. Himekawa bent down and picked up the shredded pieces of paper and began to put them together like a puzzle.

"Ya.. ma.. to.." Little by little, pieces were joined together revealing the name that was on the paper.

"Sho.. ta. Yamato Shota is your partner." Mr. Himekawa had finished putting all the pieces back together and stood up, and patted Paz on the back. "You should consider yourself lucky. Most of the girls were going for him." He smiled at her and walked back to the crowd of students who still had to pick a name out of the box.

Paz let out a sigh and brushed her hair back._ 'Just when I'm recovering.'_

Haku focused on the box, carefully examining it. _'What is this supposed to be?'_ He said to himself, narrowing his eyes.

"Nigihayami, you only need to pick a piece of paper out of the box. That person on the piece of paper you choose will be your partner for the rest of the day." Mr. Himekawa gestured the box to Haku.

"I see." Every paper was folded neatly. Even though they all looked the same, one of them had a cut corner. Something persuaded Haku to choose it. He reached for it and walked away from the crowd to read it alone.

Unfolding the piece of paper each time made his heartbeat fasten and stopped when the name on the piece of paper was revealed.

'Oogino Chihiro.'

Haku ran up to Paz who was sitting on a bench shaded by a large tree. She noticed him quickly because his footsteps were loud. "Nigihayami, who did you pick?" She sat up, eagerly waiting for an answer, hoping it would be Chihiro. Or at least, she was convincing herself to think that way. Haku sat down on the bench and handed Paz the piece of paper.

Her eyes widened. "Isn't that great?!" She smiled at Haku who was looking down on his lap, looking rather anxious. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing serious but, I don't know how I should act around her. It's been a long time since we last met. I will probably look like some kind of idiotic fool in her perspective." Haku sighed quietly.

_'Pft. What kind of answer was I expecting anyway?'_ Paz mumbled to herself, then she thought of something. Since Haku was afraid to be alone with Chihiro, well Paz thinks he is, and she, on the other hand is also afraid to be alone with Shota, why not go make a group of four, right?

"Haku, would you want to join me and my partner then? That way you won't have to be nervous around her because you're not going to be alone." Paz held up a thumbs up and smiled. "I wouldn't mind. It would make me feel at ease." Haku stood up from the bench and turned to Paz smiling. "Shall we go find our partners then?"

She couldn't help but blush at his smiling face. Somehow, the sunlight shone behind his back which made him look prince-like. She felt speechless at the sight of him and his direct gaze at her. Paz gulped as she stood up, averting her eyes away from him casually.

"Yeah.. let's go."

* * *

"Everyone, you have an hour and a half to do a bit of sightseeing. After that, meet back here and we'll start hiking, capiche? Now go and have fun." Mr. Himekawa waved the students goodbye as he cheerfully headed out to do some sightseeing himself.

Meanwhile, a group of four were having trouble deciding on which place they should head to first.

"So! Where should we go first?" Chihiro smiled cheerfully, while the other three, Paz looked a bit gloomy, Shota looking somewhat annoyed, and Haku on the other hand looked frustrated avoiding eye contact with Chihiro.

An obvious suffocating silence lingered around the four, it was so obvious that even Chihiro noticed. Paz and Chihiro were both thinking about places they would go first to quickly break the ice and get the day done and over with.

_'Ah! I know!'_ Both of them thought to themselves as their face lit up, relieved that they finally found a way to break the ice.

Both of them unconsciously gripped Haku's hand. Paz on the left, and Chihiro on the right.

"Let's go to Nijo Castle!" Paz shouted forcibly.

"To the Nishiki Market!" Chihiro cheered.

Shota stared in amazement at the two, specially Chihiro, while Haku stood there surprised. Both Paz and Chihiro looked at their hands and blood quickly rushed over to their heads and let go simultaneously. Chihiro's hands covered her face, while Paz went over to a nearby tree, gripped it on the sides and began hitting her head on it until it bled. Haku trembled slightly, thoughts flooding through his head.

_'Chihiro held.. she.. That happened right?'_ Haku mumbled to himself as he looked at his trembling hands. His fringe covering his blushing face.

Shota cleared his throat, glaring at Haku, giving off an irritated aura. "I'll decide it then. Let's go to Nijo Castle."

_Paz turned his head to Shota. 'Thank God for that.' _

_'This should be a pretty long day.' _


	12. Chapter 11: A Fair Game

_**Chapter 11: A Fair Game**_

"You kids! You're banned from touring this castle from now on! I'll get the guards to keep a close watch!" A man in a dark suit yelled at the four and stormed off back into the castle. A guard that sat on a wooden chair nearby furrowed his eyes in a threatening manner to the group of students. With that, the four of them walked fast-paced away from the tourist attraction.

"You girls are both acting like 8-year-olds, what's up with you two?" Shota rubbed his temple irritably and sighed.

"Psh! Who are you to talk and tell us we act like children when you're more immature than us." Paz rebutted to Shota's statement and poked out her tongue at him.

"He's kind of right in a way though. We were both shouting and running around the castle, not to mention knock a priceless vase over and pretty much destroy it." Chihiro shyly scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously.

"Yeah but it was really small anyway, I don't get why they'd cause an uproar because of it." Paz folded her arms.

"We should be thankful that they didn't do anything else to us but kick us out. We could have gone to jail." Shota turned to Haku, who wasn't contributing to their conversation. Haku felt all of them staring at him and gave them all the confused look.

"Is something the matter?" All three of them stood on their spots staring at Haku dumbfoundedly.

"Really? No comment at what just happened? We destroyed a historic vase! A vase that's been around for hundreds and maybe even thousands!" Paz exclaimed, flailing her arms. Haku raised his eyebrow.

"So? It looked cheap to me." Haku turned away in a prideful manner. Shota and Chihiro's jaws both dropped in awe while Paz's eye began to twitch.

"What are you?! Not even all the money in the world couldn't buy that vase!" Shota blurted out. Haku thought to himself for a minute.

_'Well, it is true. Centuries ago, those were only sold for a few thousands of gold. Why make a fuss over it..? This is the human world after all.. I will have to go with the situation.'_ Haku nodded to himself slightly which confused Shota all the more.

"No, I was just too shocked about it. That's why I was quiet." Shota was about to say something when Paz cut him off.

"Okay, you know what guys? Let's not drag this conversation. We only have an hour left to do some sightseeing and I need to buy souvenirs to take home." Paz grabbed Chihiro by the arm and dragged her along. Before Haku took a step forward, Shota held out a hand in front of him gesturing him to wait.

"We should follow them before we get separated." Haku turned to look at Shota who refused to make eye contact. The atmosphere between the two were tense.

"Just wait. I need to talk to you privately so we have to distance ourselves from those two. We're not going to lose sight of them or anything."

As soon as the two girls were far ahead and still in sight, Shota began to walk and Haku did the same. They continued walking for a few minutes. All was silent until Shota calmly stepped in front of Haku catching him by surprise.

"Tell me, transfer. Do you like Chihiro?" Shota avoided eye contact and dug his hands in his pockets, trying to hide his slightly trembling hands. _'Why the hell am I asking him this? Seriously.. What if he says that he does though..? A competition would start between us. Even if I've known Chihiro longer than anyone, I feel unsure when it comes to this guy.'_

"Like Chihiro, you ask?" Haku asked confidently, as if he was laughing at Shota's statement even though there wasn't even anything funny about it.

"Drop it. I saw you two yesterday at the back of the school, so you might as well tell me the truth about your 'history' together." Shota darted back, their eyes now making eye contact. The heavy atmosphere continued to suffocate them both. Shota may have just met his match, as they were both tall and good-looking, but Shota looked a bit more feminine than masculine, Haku's features on the other hand were masculine.

"The history between Chihiro and I? Why should I tell you? It's none of your business." Haku stepped to the side and attempted to walk ahead and catch up to the two girls who walked further and further away from them, but Shota blocked his path in every turn, taunting him, trying to get an answer out of him.

"It's my business." Shota finally managed to say. He couldn't let some random guy steal away the girl he had been liking ever since they were both children. He couldn't let all his years of work be ruined by anyone, especially not him. Not from some stranger who suddenly popped out of nowhere trying to push him out of the picture. Haku, on the other hand, could clearly tell that he was jealous. His annoyed expression formed into a mocking grin.

"Oh? Could it be that you like her?" He smirked and noticed Shota's eyes widen. Haku managed to swift past Shota while he was distracted in his own thoughts, standing still, his mouth hanging slightly open. As he turned around, about to grab Haku's elbow and start a fight, his phone rang. It was Chihiro.

"Where the heck are you guys?! Paz and I are sitting on a bench near Nishiki Market. It's pretty crowded here and we don't have much time to sight see because you two are dragging us! Hurry up!" A voice at the end of the line yelled at Shota furiously and hang up. Shota groaned, he would have to argue with the transfer student later, but right now, both of them had to catch up with the girls before they get their heads ripped off and put up on Paz's wall as a decoration.

* * *

Chihiro sat impatiently on the bench with her arms folded while Paz drank her cold tea that she got from a nearby vending machine. Chihiro sat up immediately once she saw two familiar figures walking towards them from the horizon.

"Took you long enough! What the heck?! All this time we thought you guys were walking behind us!" Chihiro scolded. Their precious sightseeing time; wasted by these two idiots. Paz threw her empty can away and walked back to the group and let out a sigh.

"There's no point Chi. Boys will be boys. Instead of wasting our time arguing. We have 20 minutes left to walk back to the meeting place. Thanks to these two, we couldn't buy souvenirs." Paz rolled her eyes.

Shota was still panting, Haku didn't seem to have wasted a bit of energy at all. "It's both of our fault! You guys destroyed a vase and ruined our first tour!" Shota answered back in frustration, spent his last breath to argue back, he collapsed on the bench sweating and gasping for air. Chihiro scrunched up her face and narrowed her eyes at the sight of a guy who was sweating, panting heavily, desperately gasping for air and swallowing. Goosebumps. She shook her head vigorously trying to get the image out of her head.

"You look gross." Paz insulted while laughing in an attempt to change the topic and evade Shota's last statement because it was, in fact, the truth.

Chihiro cleared her throat. "Anyways. We better start walking now before we get scolded by the teachers."

"Wai-, I'm still resting. Have mercy on me." Haku grabbed Shota's arm and carried him on his back. Paz began to burst out laughing while Chihiro, on the other hand, was trying to hold the tears back. Shota was turning red, flushed with anger; obviously because Chihiro was there seeing him getting piggybacked by the new transfer, and his new rival.

"What in the world are you doing?!" Shota exclaimed trying to get off of Haku's back but his grip was too tight. He was stronger than Shota, well at least at the moment since he was tired from all the running and sprinting. Good thing Chihiro called earlier or he would have probably been beaten to a pulp in an instant, _probably_. Shota's body structure were thin and fragile looking, like one touch would break all his bones.

"Just let him carry you! Plus, you said you needed a rest right? Well then, there you go." Paz continued to laugh and Chihiro wiped a tear from her eye.

"Just let me down, Nigihayami. I can walk by myself!" Shota was extremely annoyed now. I mean, who the hell would actually piggyback someone that needed only a minute of rest? Especially when they were both guys and the same age. That would just be awkward.

"No. You need your rest. You sprinted here the whole way, you deserve it." Haku's expression looked calm and serious. The girls noticed this because they were in front him. Paz stopped laughing and Chihiro stared at Haku. Shota remained silent, until he was about to say something and yell at the transfer student until Chihiro butted in this time instead of Paz.

"Just let him carry you. He's being considerate so stop pushing his generosity away." Chihiro turned her back on them and started to walk which left Paz and Shota's mouth hang open because she rarely ever got mad at Shota. She usually just laughed it off.

"Woah. Wouldn't wanna anger her any further." Paz advised to Shota mockingly as she followed Chihiro happily. Haku began to follow them with a speechless Shota on his back.

_'She took his side. Are you serious?'_ Shota thought to himself. Anger slowly creeped in and an irritated aura slowly seeping from his skin. Haku felt it but chose to keep quiet thinking that it would only trigger another argument. The girls were already ahead and the two were left behind, once again.

"Nigihayami. Tell me.. what are you to Chihiro?" His voice mixed with frustration and as if he was pleading for the answer. He wanted to know what their relationship was. He didn't care whether or not it was his business. Chihiro was not only the girl he liked, but also his best friend. They had been together for many years, yet she was friends with some guy he didn't even know about nor hear about. It was as painful to him as tearing his hair off of his scalp leaving only a bleeding head.

"Why do you want to know so badly? Can't you just be honest about your feelings?" Shota's eye twitched._ 'Be honest about my feelings? I swear. Nothing's making sense today.'_

"Er.. well.. it's only because I'm worried about her. We've been close friends for a long time and since I don't know you that well.." Haku felt a stinging sensation inside him.

Jealousy maybe?

"We had a promise." Haku's voice turned soft. When Haku said this, a smile crept to his face. He remembered the small adventure they had in the Spirit World with Lin, Yubaba and Zeniba. Although most of them included danger, they were still precious memories to him. Shota let out a sigh.

"That doesn't really tell me about your relationship with her. But you know what? Whatever. We'll play fair starting from now. So be prepared, because I'm gonna be using my current relationship with her to get ahead." Shota entwined his hands together and used them as a support at the back of his head.

"What do you mean by that?"

"No need for you to know, just keep walking."

* * *

"Okay. We're all going to be in groups of four so this time, I'll let you guys choose the other pair of people you want in your group." Mr. Himekawa grinned at the students.

"Of course, we'll stay together." Chihiro casually stated loudly. Loud enough for the girls that surrounded Shota and Haku to hear. Only to dart death glares at Chihiro and an unknowing Paz who was staring off into space. The flock of girls divided with sounds of grunting.

"I'm hoping all of you have now gotten your group of fours, yes?" Mr. Himekawa announced. "Sorry, but I will have to put a twist to this a bit. Don't hate me."

"Huh? What's he talking about? Aw, come on!" Whispers of the students and more grunting. "What is it now, Mr. Himekawa? Don't keep us hanging like this!" He heard one of the students exclaim.

"Well, this time. We're playing a treasure hunt 'till sunset. All of you will have 2 hours each to find me. Or else, you'll have to find your own transport back home because the bus will be taking off then. Sorry. This is a trust campaign that the Principal assigned for you guys. You also have to switch partners with the other pair, just for the fun of it."

A feeling of achievement flowed through Shota's body. At long last, something went right today. While, Chihiro, felt a bit disappointed. She wanted to get to know Nigihayami a bit better since he was new.

"WHAT?!"

"Is he serious?"

"What's the meaning of this?!"

"But I didn't even bring any pocket money today!"

"I knew i should have skipped."

"Ugh.."

"Oh and I nearly forgot.." Mr. Himekawa continued.

"I change my mind. actually, instead of a group of four. You just stay with your original partners. Good luck! The hunt begins in 20 minutes. I brought a few teachers along with me to keep an eye on you guys in case any of you try to escape or cheat."

The four; Chihiro, Haku, Paz and Shota exchanged looks, as if they were all trying process what had happened. Chihiro was the first to snap out of confusion. "Well.. I guess I'll be going staying with Haku?" She didn't notice herself forming a smile on her face.

"But.." Shota stuttered, not wanting Chihiro to be paired up with Haku.

"Shota. Do what the teacher says." Paz retorted, smirking.

_'As much as I want to stay as far as I can from Shota. I can't ruin Chihiro's chance.'_


	13. Chapter 12: A Love That Bloomed Again

_**Chapter 12: A Love That Bloomed Again**_

Fifteen minutes after Mr. Himekawa left, the teachers handed us sheets of paper. It listed all the things we needed to find. They were clues as to where Mr. Himekawa was located. Every sheet that was given to each pair were different, but they all gave out similar clues. It was to prevent anyone from cheating or teaming up with other pairs. The hunt was more or less set up like an orienteering event. Everything was suspenseful. The teachers gave us the last five minutes to examine the sheet and plan ahead before starting.

"What do you guys think? Are they actually being serious about the transportation thingy?!" Paz panicked. She didn't bring enough pocket money; it was because Natsume borrowed from her the day before and because she used up most of it to buy snacks from the convenience store. Paz ruffled her soft chestnut hair in frustration and immediately fixed itself back to the way it was.

"No, I think that was just to motivate and scare us at the same time." Shota proclaimed in an attempt to calm the panicking Paz. "But what if he was telling the truth?! Would you guys be able to lend me some money? I promise I'll pay you back tomorrow!" She pleaded to the three with a unconvincing puppy eyes that she always used to do to borrow money from friends whenever she was short on money. Chihiro always fell for it, so Paz was confident in succeeding to get her to lend some money.

"Fine. I'll lend you some money, so don't worry about it. Right now, Haku and I need to plan for this. Good luck to you guys." Chihiro smiled and waved off at Shota and Paz while Haku casually followed from behind. Paz inhaled and exhaled trying to get Shota's attention; he continued to stare at Haku and Chihiro walking further away from them.

"Shota."

No response. Paz cleared her throat loudly. Still no response.

"Your jealousy is so obvious." She folded her arms, directing her gaze at the other two.

Now _that_ caught his attention.

"Well of course I am! You already know I like her. If you saw someone you liked walking away with someone else, you would feel the same way too, wouldn't you?" Paz clenched her fists while Shota continued to stare at Haku and Chihiro talking and laughing about something. The scene felt like it was going on forever.

"Who wouldn't feel jealous when the person you liked was laughing and having fun with someone else?" Shota added. Paz clenched her fists tighter, anger consuming every corner of her body. She wasn't sure how much more of this irony she could take before she unleashes all her years of anger towards him.

"Yeah. I've been there before." Shota turned to Paz. He never knew she actually liked someone; she was famous for ignorantly putting Key in the friend zone back in middle school after graduation. That was embarrassing.

"Seriously? Care to tell what happened? I mean, if you don't mind. You don't really have to if it's too personal." He grew more curious now. It was better to get advice from someone who had actually experienced it before and felt the way he was feeling.

"To put it simply, I was an idiot. I was in love with a guy who, not once, even looked at me the way he looked at a certain girl." She gritted her teeth trying to calm her nerves. It was right in front of him, it was so obvious; like a black coffee stain on a perfectly white shirt. Yet he failed to notice. She calmed her nerves and continued to tell her story.

"Even though I knew it was impossible, I continued to deceive myself from reality. He always showed up in front of me, talking and laughing with this girl. Just seeing him with her felt like I was getting stabbed from all directions with a thousands knives." The way Paz described the last sentence made Shota's hair on his arms stand on end. He was in the exact situation she was in.

"What happened in the end? Have you already given up?" Shota gave a worried look at Paz but she didn't seem to notice.

"He was misleading. His every action towards me, I read too much into it. I always interpreted them as something more, but that was just me. I tried to give up once, but then I ended up falling for him again. It was like a continuous cycle. You keep running in circles like an idiot. But this time, I already knew the ending to the whole thing and gave up halfway." A sad smile formed on her face. She was unhappy and glad at the same time. Unhappy because she couldn't even confess to him how she truly felt towards him, and glad because she was finally free from the endless maze she had been trying to get out of all these years.

"You know, giving up isn't always a bad thing. It depends. It keeps you from hurting yourself over and over again doing the impossible." Shota sighed. Instead of receiving advice, it more or less like he was the one giving them. But he_ did_ learn something from her experience.

* * *

The hunt had begun. Each of the pairs wandered off in different directions to search for the clues. Haku and I's first clue was in a park that was only a five minute walk from school bus, it was pretty close. A few moments ago before the search started we were casually talking and laughing, but now, it's all quiet and just plain awkward.

_'Think Chihiro. Think of a topic. Come on.'_ Chihiro sweat-dropped. Haku could clearly see that she was nervous about something and a bit flustered. Maybe she was uncomfortable with him after all? To be honest, he felt nervous as well. If she didn't notice it, then he hid it pretty well.

"Are you, by any chance, uncomfortable being partnered up with me?" Haku asked bluntly, turning his head to Chihiro.

"No, no, no! I was just thinking about the clues and.. stuff." She chuckled nervously. She didn't even notice that Haku had been looking at her all this time getting flustered and such.

"I see. Please don't try and overcome the problems all by yourself. We are partners, so we are supposed to share the responsibilities equally." Haku gently smiled at Chihiro, who stared back at him. She shook her head and cleared her throat.

"You don't need to speak in such a formal way, you know. We're the same age." Chihiro replied with a flat tone.

_'You have no idea.'_ Haku told himself and chuckled. Chihiro noticed this and immediately turned fifty shades of red.

"That wasn't supposed to be funny! I'm serious! It sounds weird! I feel like an old lady." She exclaimed, but that didn't stop Haku from chuckling even more.

"You know, you haven't changed a bit." Chihiro's eyes widened. She remembered that Paz had talked to her a few weeks before about Haku and how he knew Chihiro when he was small. But, she might have just been hearing things. She wanted to give it a shot.

"Wait, so.. we've met before?" Haku roughly cleared his throat this time.

"No, sorry. You just reminded me of a girl I knew from before. You are both very similar." He smiled. The usual gentle smile, the sad smile he always showed. Chihiro felt a bit jealous of this girl.

_'Oh.. okay. So.. I was just someone who was similar to the girl he knew from the past..?'_

...Chihiro furrowed her brows.

_'Okay. That's fine.'_

They had finally arrived at the location of the first clue. The park. There were slides, swings, a sandbox. A child's heaven. Chihiro read the word on the piece of paper aloud, just enough for Haku to hear.

'Countless.'

The two thought for a moment. _'This is too easy.'_ Haku thought to himself as he walked past Chihiro, not noticing that his hand brushed against hers, causing her heart to jump although she tried her best from showing her flustered expression. Chihiro followed Haku to the sandbox. There was a boy and a girl around the age of nine, building castles, or at least that's what looked like castles.

_'Oh I get. Of course. Countless grains of sand right?'_

"Good job, Nigihayami!" Haku's eyes shone brightly. He had just been praised by Chihiro. Of course he would feel happy about it. Chihiro turned to children playing in the sandbox.

"Excuse me, but have you two seen anything weird in the sandbox? Like maybe a piece of paper?" She smiled. The two children looked at each other in confusion, then looked back at Chihiro and shook their heads.

"Oh.. okay. Then, do you mind if my friend and I search for it here? We promise not to bother you." The children looked at each other once again and nodded at Chihiro. The girl began to speak. "Um. If you'd like, we can help you find it. It's quicker that way." She smiled at Chihiro and Haku. The boy beside her blushed, looking down on the sand.

It took them only a few minutes to find a small folded piece of paper buried in the sandbox.

"Yes!" Chihiro dusted off her school skirt, some of it went into her shoes, but she couldn't be bothered to take them off. She was too excited about their first clue.

"Oh that's right! I nearly forgot to thank you two. Thank you so much for helping us find it!" The children smiled at her.

"Yuki. It's time to go home." A young lady approached them smiling. The girl dusted sand off her dress and ran over to the lady and hugged her.

"Sis!"

"Rita, you should go home too. I saw your brother looking for you." The boy nodded and stood up from the sandbox and began to walk back home. Yuki ran up to the boy. "Rita! Let's play here again tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." Rita mumbled shyly.

"Promise?" Yuki held out her pinky in front of Rita, catching him by surprise. He then did the same.

"Promise.." Their pinkies entwined and soon parted. Yuki grinned at him causing the boy's eyes to widen and blush, before turning her back and running to her sister who was waiting patiently by a bench.

Promise.

Chihiro heard a soft click.

Soon after that, the boy ran from the park and bumped into his brother looking furious, but ruffled Rita's hair and carried him on his back.

Haku turned his head to Chihiro, who continued to stare at an empty space.

"Chi- Oogino? Are you alright?" Haku asked anxiously. Though he already knew the reason as to why she suddenly went into a trance, he wanted to let her figure it out for herself. Haku was waiting for her to say something like 'I remember now.' or something along those lines. Even the smallest bit of memory would be nice.

"Oh right. My bad. Let's get back to the clue." A wave of disappointment went through Haku. Of course, it wasn't going to happen that easily. It's not like she was going to suddenly remember everything because of that. More disappointments were heading his way if he kept his hopes up on everything.

_'Promise.. Why did that word suddenly click? Maybe I really did know Haku in the past..? But then again, how could I forget? Something's pulling my strings here.'_ Chihiro sighed and unfolded the piece of paper, shaking off the sand that had gotten trapped in it.

"Refreshing." Chihiro groaned. Why are all the clues only one word? She wasn't that smart, so this was kind of like a torturing game for her.

"Maybe it has something to do with nature? Nature's refreshing. Or water, maybe?" Haku folded his arms, trying to figure out what it meant.

_'Water...!'_

_Another click. _

Something was wrong. Is it something bad? Good? Which one is it..? Chihiro clenched the side of her head, she felt like her head getting ripped apart. She was trying to remember something. It felt painful trying to remember it. She was so close to it.

To the answer. To the _truth_..? It didn't make sense..

"Does this place have any lakes or ponds?" Haku asked, still thinking.

"..Not that I know of." Chihiro managed to say. The painful feeling continued, slowly feeling light-headed. She didn't want to pass out in front of Haku. Not right now. She was trying to remember something important.

Silence crept between the two. Haku continued to think.

Then he finally thought of something. Then again, it would be cheating, wouldn't it?

"Then... what about a river?" Haku suggested innocently.

_A loud click._

**...**

Chihiro turned to face Haku. She heard it. It definitely wasn't her imagination this time.


	14. Chapter 13: First Love

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. I've been wallowing in pain lately. :/ I barely passed two of my tests.. my asian pride has been broken. JOKES. :D In fact, I've stayed up till 4am playing PMD (Pokemon) the whole week this week on my DS...

Someone please tell me how to live my life. PLEASE. **OH AND... since this chapter was delayed.. THIS CHAPTER IS FULL OF HAKU AND CHIHIRO MOMENTS. YAY. **I may have overdid it with some parts though. But eh, can't be bothered. xD Enjoy.

**_And don't forget to favorite, follow and review. :3 _**

* * *

**_Chapter 13: First Love_**

_'This does not count as cheating on fate.. does it?'_ Haku thought to himself as he stared back at Chihiro. Her eyes felt distant and emotionless, not moving an inch. Haku secretly smiled to himself. The thought of Chihiro giving him a surprise hug saying that she remembered all of it, him, her friends, and the time when she went to the spirit world, and if he was lucky, maybe even a little ki-, Haku's eye widened at his own thoughts and turned slightly red, hoping Chihiro hadn't noticed.

_'Agh! What am I thinking?!'_ Haku shook his head, trying to push the thought away, as much as he wanted it to come true, the last time they saw each other was four years ago, he would still need to 'progress' with her to improve their 'relationship'. Another thought crossed Haku's mind.

What if he hadn't let go of her that time from four years ago? What would have happened then? She wouldn't have had her memories erased and she would have continued to stay with him in the spirit world. Haku looked at his left hand, the hand that let go of her, the hand that changed everything.

_'Ha.. I guess they were right. I am selfish.'_ Haku chuckled to himself, his face looked frustrated and hurt. He didn't have the time to be angry or pity himself. The reason that he came to this world was to bring her back. But then again, was that even the right thing to do? What if she wanted to stay here with her family and friends who needed her as much as he did? Haku sighed in defeat. He had to admit it. Yes, it is true, he's conceited. All of his anxiousness drained away as soon as he heard Chihiro taking a breath before she spoke.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. _Did it even work?_

"Hak-" Haku's eyes widened once again, surprised that she was about to call him by the name she used to address him from back then. Excitement flowed through Haku's whole body, quicker than lightning. An overflowing feeling of joy and nervousness.

"Nigihayami, you're really good at interpretation!" Chihiro cheered and smiled at Haku, whose smiling expression was frozen in shock from the unexpected reaction. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind. It obviously didn't work. Chihiro's mouth formed into an 'O' shape. Her smile widened, her cheeks turned bright pink, like the color of a blooming sakura tree. As soon as she saw Haku slightly smiling, something hit her. She had never seen him smile before, this was a rare opportunity. But then again, Paz had probably seen him smile already since they hung around each other a lot.

"Ah.. yes. I guess I am..?" Haku slightly turned his head and shyly rubbed his left shoulder, trying to hide his disappointment. I guess even for him, not everything in this world was easy to get. For once, Chihiro noticed his anxious expression, and furrowed her brows worriedly. Thinking if she said something wrong, even though she definitely meant it as a compliment.

"Is something bothering you? I mean, if you're comfortable enough to tell me, and I know that you'd probably prefer to tell Paz since you guys get along better.." Chihiro smiled up at Haku, feeling a bit down.

_'Did she not remember anything..? Not one thing?'_ Haku thought to himself, still in disappointment. "It's nothing really. I was just thinking about the other clues and trying to put them together." Haku smiled back at Chihiro, who knew that he was obviously lying. She saw through him like clear water. One thing that made her realize he was lying was the way his eyes.. looked. Smiles are quite easy to fake but if their eyes didn't match their expression, that was a sign that they were lying.

"I see. Well then, let's go to Kamo River. It'll take us probably about fifteen minutes to get there." Chihiro began to walk fast-paced from the park and out onto the sidewalk.

* * *

_'Why in the world am I getting irritated by this? It's none of my business in the first place. Maybe we should have switched partners after all? I hate this. I'm acting like some ditzy girl from a typical shoujo manga.'_ Chihiro stomped away, gritting her teeth while Haku jogged after her.

"Is something the matter, Oogino?" Haku caught up with Chihiro, but she didn't look at him nor steal a glance. Were females always this complicated? If it was in the spirit world, girls would naturally flock around him like birds. But of course, he didn't even think about or liked any of them. He only had one person in his mind. The one person that had been in his mind for years.

Chihiro stayed silent, not replying to any of Haku's questions. She knew that she was being annoyingly stubborn, and as much as she tried to convince herself to stop, she didn't want to feel like she lost to him. Then again, how did this start anyway? It was her own fault for unconsciously storming off. Haku wasn't to blame since he didn't do anything at all. He simply answered her question.

"If you can't tell me what's bothering you, I can't help you." Haku exclaimed, stopping a few steps from Chihiro.

_'Seriously, why am I even doing this?'_ Chihiro sweat-dropped, her eyes still looking down at the ground and walking fast-paced not knowing where she was going.

Until she heard the sound of a car continuously beeping and the sound of its tire sliding against the solid concrete. Chihiro jolted her head back up and turned to her right. She could hear Haku yelling at her.

"Oi! Watch out!" Haku clenched his fists.

A car was coming for her. If anyone else was placed in this situation that she was in right now, of course they would be terrified as well. Her legs wouldn't move, it was impossible to get out of the way now. Unless some kind of miracle happened. Then again, it was her own fault for not paying attention to where she was heading. She couldn't even believe herself that her stupidity would go as far as to this extent.

Without any second thoughts, Haku immediately raised his left hand right in front of him, pointing at Chihiro. His hand clutched onto the wind and pulled his hand back as if he was grabbing something and pulling it back. A forceful gust of wind pulled Chihiro out of the road and back onto the sidewalk, her back safely bumping onto Haku's chest as he caught her by the arms.

"What the hell! Stupid teenager! You could've gotten run over!" The driver of the car yelled out of his window as he drove off. Anger written all over his face.

...

_'..I was supposed to get run over. Then something.. what? WHAT?!'_ Chihiro stood up straight and began looking at her hands then looked around.

It felt weird, like someone grabbed her by the arms and pulled her out of the way. The closest person to her was Haku, but he was a few meters behind her, that would have been impossible. As she was about to continue walking and search for an answer as to what had happened, she felt someone lightly grabbing onto her fingertips. Waves of electricity made its way up from her fingertips to her head.

She wanted to look behind her to see his expression, but she was looking bright red herself. How many times has she turned red today? His hands were soft and warm. Chihiro began to wonder what it would feel like if they held hands. She held hands with Shota tons of times but she never really reacted much to it. This was somewhat different. It felt different, that's for sure.

Right about now, Chihiro was predicting what Haku would say next. Usually in shoujo mangas, they would ask "Are you alright?" or the guy would hug the girl and say "You idiot! What were you doing?!" then after that, the guy would say something extremely cheesy and overused. Please don't let Haku be one of them.

"..Do you hate being partnered up with me that much?" Haku asked in a low yet pleading voice. Chihiro immediately turned around to see Haku's face, mostly covered by his bangs because he was looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with her. But she could clearly tell by the sound of his voice that he was hurt.

Chihiro felt a stab of guilt go through her chest, quickly trying to think of something to say and clear up the misunderstanding. Since she was thinking the same thing as Haku. They both thought that the other person didn't want to be partners with them. It was probably just the awkwardness that made them both think that.

Chihiro cleared her throat. She looked at her hands, still being held by Haku. She was still blushing. There was no time to compare situations with the ones in shoujo mangas. This was real life, she needed to act fast.

"Eh.. uh.. I um.." Chihiro stuttered, still trying to figure out what to say. Other people that was on the other side of the street began to stare at the two. Even the people in the car, going on and on about young love and all that. Haku didn't seem to care or mind. Pressure began to build up.

_'How the heck should I put it?! There wasn't any reason for me to be angry at him in the first place! I was just dehydrated because I've been under the sun for the whole day.'_

Chihiro continued to stare at Haku who was patiently waiting for a reply, a worried expression taped to her face.

_'I'm taking too long.. what the hell am I doing?'_

"Just say yes! The poor guy gathered up the courage to confess to you!" An old man yelled out of his car, grinning at the two. Haku pretended not to hear.

'Wuh-! How is this a confession?! Haaaa?!" Chihiro's mouth hanging slightly open, staring at the old man that had made a thumbs up sign and drove off. This was starting to get embarrassing.

As Chihiro was about to slowly pull away from Haku, he caught both of her hands this time and clutched it tighter. It was a gentle hold yet inescapable.

...

"Don't go." Haku raised his head up slightly, his eyes showing sadness, his whole expression was serious and.. somewhat lonely.

Chihiro's eyes widened, her heart beating a little bit faster. Not knowing what to do. Is this a confession? What does "Don't go" actually mean!? What if I take it the wrong way? It'll make me look like a huge idiot.

_'I've never actually been confessed to before..'_ Chihiro thought to herself, her eyes still widened. Both Chihiro and Haku gazing intently at each other.

Some of the women that were gossiping on the other side of the street began to blush and told Chihiro to 'accept the confession'. There were even some elementary school kids that passed by teasing them. Haku had been holding her hand for a few minutes now, yet all she could do was stand there and stutter nonsense.

Yep, all the shoujo mangas she had been reading have started to rub off on her. _Great._

_'Plus, what the hell? I only met him a few days ago! This would be called 'blind love' wouldn't it? What do I like about him anyway?_' Chihiro continued to stare back at Haku. His liquid emerald eyes staring right back at her.

_'Blind love.. right? But then again there's that other one too..'_

Haku clutched her hands tighter, but it didn't hurt at all.

She began to feel strange. Familiar feelings. Was it because she was holding his hands?

Chihiro smiled at Haku.

_'I see.. the other one was first love, wasn't it?'_


	15. Chapter 14: Blessing Stone

_**Chapter 14: Blessing Stone**_

"Well.. here it is. Our next clue, Kamo River. " Chihiro gestured to the river and smiled, looking slightly uncomfortable. This made Haku furrowed his brows at her worriedly.

"You look troubled.. Is it because of what happened earlier?" Haku asked bluntly, scratching the back of his neck.

"No! It's not that! It's actually because.." Chihiro paused. Her expression looked as if she ate something sour. Her eyes tightly shut as she bit her lower lip.

"I have a potamophobia. I'm afraid of rivers." She let out a sigh as her eyes looked down at the ground, waiting for Haku to laugh at her and comment. She suddenly felt a warm and fuzzy sensation spreading in her hand as Haku took hold of it and walked closer to the river dragging Chihiro along. Soon, the 'warm and fuzzy' sensation began to fade as she saw the river. They were both heading closer and closer towards the riverbank.

"Nigihayami! What are you doing?! I told you I was afraid of rivers! Stop!" Chihiro yelped as she struggled to free her hand from Haku's grip.

_'What is he thinking?! Is he stupid? A few moments ago, I clearly told him that I was scared of rivers! What part of that does he not understand?'_

Without thinking any further, Chihiro immediately bites Haku's wrist causing him to yelp and loosen his grip, giving her the chance to escape.

"This isn't funny! I already told you that I have a phobia of rivers!" Chihiro yelled in frustration, causing Haku to see the terrified look in her deep brown eyes; much like a scared child's. Haku didn't reply. He simply walked towards Chihiro as she sat on the grass.

As soon as he got closer to her, Chihiro looked up at him with an extremely annoyed look on her face then looked back at the river. Chihiro casually shuffled away from Haku as he sat down beside her. He continued not saying anything.

...

_'Maybe he wants to know why...?'_ Chihiro thought to herself.

...

_'Should I?'_ Chihiro sighed, looking at the calm scenery before them. The glistening surface of the river and the soothing sound of the water. The topic would suit the atmosphere.

"I'll tell you why I'm scared of rivers." Haku turned to look at Chihiro, ready to listen to what she has to say.

"Earlier.. in the park, I remembered something." Haku's eyes widened. She remembered something after all. A slight smile reached his lips as he continued to listen to her story. Even though this memory that she remembered caused her to fear rivers, he was glad that she remembered something.

"When I was five years old.. my family and I went to go fishing in a river. I don't remember what is was called though." The smile on Haku's face soon faded as Chihiro continued on with her story.

"I was running along the riverbank chasing a frog, not looking where I was going, I tripped and fell flat on my face."

Haku's mouth hung slightly open. It was the shoe incident from back then. It was also the first time they met.

"As soon as I got back on my feet, I realized one of my shoes were gone. I looked around and found my pink shoe caught on the roots beneath the riverbank. When I tried reaching for it, I fell in the water. The flow of the water was too harsh so I couldn't swim and before I knew it, I was drowning. I thought I was gonna die."

The worried expression Chihiro wore turned into a confused expression. She was in deep thought about something.

"No.. I _knew_ I was gonna die." There was a long pause after that. Just as Haku was about to speak, Chihiro continued on with her story, her fists clenched and her brows furrowed.

"But.. something in the water. Something saved me from drowning. Then, before I knew it, I woke up on the grass with my parents towering over my head with horrified look on their faces." The worried look from earlier turned into a smile, but her voice was small and shaky.

...

"Would you believe me.. if I told you that it was a dragon?" Chihiro turned her head to Haku. His eyes widened, his mouth slowly opening to say something. Chihiro averted her gaze back to the river. Her eyes showing longing, asking so many questions. Yet the only thing she could do was remember what she saw, or at least, what she _thought _she saw.

"But then again, I must be crazy right? A river dragon? It all felt so real.. but it's still a blurry memory. At least once, I'd like to go see that river again." Chihiro chuckled, as she hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

"I believe you." Much to Chihiro's surprise as she turned to look at him, he simply smiled at her with his honest emerald eyes.

_'Psh. He's just trying to make me feel better.'_ Chihiro told herself as she turned her attention back to the river.

"What a young couple. I'm envious. Are you enjoying the scenery, yes?" Haku and Chihiro both turned their heads to see an old lady holding a wooden cane with her other hand behind her back.

"Ah.. we're just friends. We're not a couple." Chihiro blushed, frantically waving her hands.

"Yet." Haku added, smiling at the lady. Chihiro jolted her head and looked at Haku with her mouth hanging open.

_'He-! He just..?! Yet...?!'_ Before Chihiro could say anything, the old lady laughed at them.

"Ahahaha! He's a cheeky young man, isn't he? I'll tell both of you something interesting about this river." The old lady began to tell her story, looking at the river with a smile.

"There's a legend about this river. They say if you find an emerald-colored stone, even the smallest, tiniest bit of stone. It would grant you long-lasting happiness. It's the blessing of the Kamo River God. But they say it will only work if two people, who are both in love, find it." The old lady smiled at the two.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone now. Enjoy yourselves. This old lady has some errands to do." The old lady slowly walked away, with her wooden cane supporting her, leaving a long silence between Chihiro and Haku.

"Let's go search for the stone together." Haku suggested, looking at the river smiling.

"Weren't you listening to me earlier? I have a phobia. Plus, she said it will only work if both sides have mutual feelings. So there's no point." Chihiro retorted in a monotone voice.

"We'll bend the rules a bit, shall we?" Haku grinned at Chihiro.

"..What do you mean?" Turning her head to Haku with a confused expression.

"You'll see soon enough. Just come with me to search for it." Haku stood up. He began rolling up his pants just below his knees and taking his shoes and socks off, then offered a hand to Chihiro.

"No. Never. What makes you think I'll even dip the tip of my toe in it?" Chihiro looked up at Haku and raised an eyebrow.

"No need to worry. I'll hold your hand the whole time."

Chihiro continued to stare at Haku, blushing a bit. It wasn't obvious because of Haku's shadow towering over her. With the sun behind him, his kind smile, his deep emerald eyes that could melt any girl's heart within seconds, and his gentle hands offering her a hand. Almost like a prince. Although this may seem like something off of a fairytale, and that quite a lot of girls may find this scene completely 'perfect' or 'dreamy'.

Chihiro soon found herself utterly entranced by him as she slowly took his hand. She stood up and followed as Haku guided her closer and closer towards the river, gripping Haku's hand tighter each step they took. Her fear slowly consuming every corner of her conscience, until Haku held her hand. A small portion of her fear drained away, bit by bit. She felt safe and secure. Her grip loosened each time as they approached the riverbank.

Haku took a step in the river. The water only reaching a few inches above his ankles. He turned to Chihiro with a gentle smile. Chihiro gulped, she still felt uneasy. Trembling, as she took her shoes and socks off.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. There's nothing but stones in the water." He took a step forward to Chihiro and offered a hand.

She gripped Haku's hand and shut her eyes, taking her first step into the water.

"Good. You're progressing. Now, put your other feet into the water."

Chihiro shook her head vigorously.

"You have already put one of them in the water. It's too late now."

"I don't want to anymore." Chihiro shook her head once more and winced.

"Alright, fine. Lift your head up, open your eyes and look at me." Haku took another step forward towards Chihiro.

Chihiro opened her eyes and looked at Haku, whose face was only inches away from hers. Immediately turning bright red. Haku on the other hand, looked calm and stern.

"Now, put your other foot in the water while looking at only me."

Chihiro felt like her legs were about to give in at any moment. It was impossible after all. Even stepping one foot in the river scared her. There would never be a day where she would be able to just_ be_ in the river.

Slowly lifting her other foot into the water while looking at Haku. Both of their hands holding the other's.

Soon, the tip of her foot entered the water, then before Chihiro knew it. Both of her feet were already in the water.

"Congratulations. You finally put both of your feet in the water." Haku's stern expression transformed into a smile. Chihiro on the other hand was grinning widely from ear to ear. It was a huge accomplishment for her.

"I did it.." She exhaled. "I finally did it-"

Her legs began to crumble. Chihiro slowly lost balance, she could only endure it for a short time. She found herself gently falling over to the side.

_Splash._

Chihiro rubbed her temple, feeling dizzy. But why didn't she feel like she was soaked in the water? Chihiro turned her gaze at the 'ground'. Realizing she fell on top of Haku. His left eye closed while gritting his teeth, quietly wincing in pain.

_'That was fast.'_ Chihiro's eyes widened as she slightly blushed.

His hair and his uniform were soaking wet. His face covered with small drops of water. He sat up leaning back, using his right hand for support, with Chihiro sitting on his lap continuing to stare at him, ignoring the situation.

He brushed his hair back with his other hand, holding his fringe back while looking at Chihiro's brown eyes. She felt her heartbeat fasten.

_'I can't sit still! I blush, I say stupid things and my heartbeat quickens. Do I like him? No, I don't. DO I? NAH.'_ Chihiro thought to herself in panic.

"You've been sitting on my lap for quite a while now.." Haku finally mentioned, which helped Chihiro back to her senses.

"Right! Sorry." Chihiro stood up from his lap and offered her hand. "Thanks."

"You know you could have just grabbed my hand to save me from falling."

"I did, but I ended up slipping as well." Haku chuckled, and paused.

He felt something sharp under his hands. Nearly digging into his flesh, Haku gritted his teeth.

"..What's wrong? Did you get hurt? I mean, there are stones in the water so.." Chihiro asked anxiously.

"Nothing. There's just something sharp under my hand." Haku lifted his hand revealing something slightly.. blue.

"What is it?" Chihiro bent down to have a closer look. It was still blurry because of the ripples in the water.

...

Haku looked like he grabbed something and stood up. His hair and uniform dripping.

"Tell me what it is!" Chihiro asked, as they got out of the water with Haku leaving trails of water behind him.

Chihiro's eyes widened as the image of the blue stone appeared in her head.

_'..Nah.'_ Chihiro thought to herself.

Haku stopped and turned to Chihiro. His right hand behind his back. Taking steps closer and closer to her.

"What?" Chihiro asked nervously.

A cheeky grin spread across Haku's face as he bent down to Chihiro's height, facing her directly with only centimeters away from each other.

"I-.. We found it."

Chihiro's eyes widened as Haku brought his right hand up to her face revealing a tiny emerald-colored stone.

"The blessing of the Kamo River God.." Chihiro muttered. "How?!"

"This is a sign.." Haku chuckled as he stood up straight.

...

"Huh?" Chihiro looked up at Haku with a slightly puzzled face.

"Listen carefully, because I will only say this once." Haku cleared his throat.

"What do you mean?" Haku put his hands on each of Chihiro's shoulders, gazing intently into her eyes.

"..Eh? What are you doing?" Chihiro exclaimed, blushing bright pink.

...

"Oogino Chihiro, I hereby declare from this day on..."

"I _will_ make you fall in love with me."


	16. Chapter 15: Love is a Law

_**A/N: Hello~ This chapter is mostly about Lenka and her the Elder's past, which will be the main cause of the major events/conflicts that will occur in the later chapters. But don't worry, more HakuXChihiro fluff will be arriving soon! ;D**_

* * *

_**Chapter 15: Love is a Law**_

Haku grabbed both of Chihiro's shoulders and held them firmly.

"I_ will_ make you fall in love with me." His voice was no more or less than a quiet whisper. Yet she heard it clearly. Haku looked at Chihiro lovingly with a smile that made her knees wobble, they were on the verge of collapsing down on the ground.

_Well.._ at least that was what the scenario Chihiro had imagined in her head. Chihiro shook her head in an attempt to erase the thought she was having. Because firstly, they barely know each other, and secondly, Paz liked him. When Haku and Chihiro had been partnered up earlier, she had this worried look on her face, which made Chihiro _think _that she did.

_'Like he'd say that.'_ She mumbled under her breath. Quiet enough for Haku not to hear. Haku grabbed both of Chihiro's shoulders and stared at her. His brows slightly furrowed in concern.

_'Here it goes.'_ Chihiro thought to herself, blushing. Will it turn out like what she had imagined in her head earlier?

"Chihiro.." Haku slowly leaned in closer to her making her heart skip a beat. His eyes locked directly onto hers. In a state of panic, with Chihiro not knowing what to do, she shut her eyes tight and waited for something to happen.

_'Wait.. why am I closing my eyes?! Are you supposed to close your eyes when kissing?'_ Chihiro thought to herself as she continued to wait for something to happen.

"Chihiro.." Haku whispered in her ear. His hot breath tickling her neck making her blush a brighter shade of red. What was a girl supposed to do in a situation like this? Punch him in the face before anything happens and ditch him while he's recovering? Or just go with it?

Did it even matter? It was too late anyway.

This is the most important moment of a teenage girl's life: her _first kiss_. And it was about to be given by someone whom she had just met a week ago.

"Chihiro. We forgot to look for the clue." Haku continued.

...

"Chihiro?"

...

With that, Haku received a surprise punch to his left cheek, slowly turning swollen. A small teardrop forming in the corner of his eye, holding his cheek carefully as he watched Chihiro storm off farther and farther away from him.

"Wha-? What did I do?!" Haku yelled over to Chihiro, still holding his left cheek.

"Stop misleading people, idiot!" She turned to him, poking out her tongue and continued to storm off with Haku jogging after her from behind.

_'That was way too misleading! I actually fell for it, although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting anything. This guy's definitely dangerous.'_ Chihiro mumbled to herself in annoyance.

* * *

The stunning aroma of Jasmine tea loitered around the room. Beautiful paintings from previous Spirit wars decorated the purple velvet colored room.

Lenka sipped her tea gracefully, placing it back down on the plate with a concerned look plastered on her face.

"My dear, it's rare for you to show such a worried expression when you're drinking tea. Care to tell this old man your problems?" The Elder smiled at his granddaughter adoringly. The two only got to have tea together once or twice a month due to their unbelievably busy schedules and duties.

The only relative Lenka had left was her grandfather ever since her parents died due to the breaking of the spirit world's laws.

In the spirit world, humans and spirits were not allowed to 'fall in love'. Because when a human and a spirit fell in love, it always ended tragically.

A child that was born a halfling would be considered a curse.

Lenka's father, Kaoru, was the son of the Elder, who met Julia, a human who was the daughter of a noble. The two met when Julia stumbled upon the border during her father's travels to one of his friends' newly built mansion, during that time, Kaoru was training away from his town to increase his strength in peace.

As soon as the two set their eyes upon each other, they immediately fell in love. Although Julia played hard to get the first few times, the more time they spent together, the more things they got to know about each other and eventually fell deeply in love.

Julia would sneak out of her mansion in the middle of the night and ride her horse to the border where she and Kaoru would meet regularly. This went on for a few months, until Julia's father found out one night and locked her in the next day. The mansion, especially her room, was heavily guarded, but it didn't stop her from trying to meet with Kaoru.

She made a successful escape from the guards and sprinted for the border. She explained everything to him frantically while countless tears were endlessly forming in her eyes. It was probably the last time they would get to see each other since Kaoru wasn't strong enough to cross the border to try and convince the father.

Before she returned to the human world; since it was the last time, the two decided to 'bond' before everything ended. Both physically and mentally, just like how spirits bonded their souls together with someone to share their feelings with for eternity. Even though the two had only met for a short time, and even though it all sounded so foolish. To them, it meant everything. That was what you would call 'young love'. Sure enough, it was a time both of them will never forget.

The second the both of them joined together, the spirit law was broken. Julia was immediately sent back to the human world, and told that she was to die giving birth to the halfling. Upon hearing this, Kaoru took immediate action and stormed over to the spirit council, even through all desperate attempts his clan had to get through to stop him from going and getting killed.

The result was expected after Kaoru complained to the council, he was erased mercilessly from existence by the God of Spirits. A day or two after his death, his father, the Elder, returned from a spirit war between the southern and western clans. Discovering that the death of his son was caused by breaking the law because of a human girl, he simply smiled, much to the council's surprise. They thought that he would oppose the council.

Months later after his return, the Elder received a letter from the council about a mother who had recently died soon after giving birth to a cursed halfling, who was soon revealed to be his granddaughter, Lenka, and the council's plans to erase her from existence, exactly like what happened to her father.

Even after the Elder pleaded to the council, he was given two options:

To let them kill her and live his life peacefully and undisturbed. Or to be banished from the spirit world and take residence in the human world to look after her.

Without a second thought, he chose the second option; to be banished from the spirit world. All his relatives and supposedly 'loyal' followers began to cut their ties with him, one by one.

The Elder didn't mind one bit, knowing that he has a unique granddaughter whose life he would fill with love, care and laughter. Being banished was a small price to pay compared to raising a child who has yet to learn the ways of life.

* * *

"Something that has been bothering me ever since this morning is what you're planning to do to Lord Haku." Lenka answered in a flat tone, staring her grandfather in the eyes with the usual stern look.

"HAHAHA! I see! So that's why, eh? You've finally realized your feelings for him? Although he's over 17,000 years old. In the spirit world, he would be considered young because those are merely a few zeros in his age." The Elder teased.

"No! I have no special feelings for him whatsoever. What I'm interested in is what you have in mind for him. Why are you restricting me from picking him up from the school trip until later?" Lenka retorted defensively which made the Elder nearly spit out his tea.

"Ah-eh, well, you see.." His playful expression from earlier had transformed into a sad smile.

"That boy.. Lin told me that he had been waiting to meet the human girl for quite a few years, and came here to risk his entire being just for that, which I found quite.._ interesting_, because it made me think of your parents. I want to know what kind of future they would have. A similar fate, maybe? Or a different one? But if it's a different one.. would it be good or bad?" The Elder placed his tea back down on the plate.

"But.. are you not just toying with him? Does Lord Haku know of the law? Why are you doing this to them..?" Lenka's expression turned dark, slightly raising her voice out of frustration. Was grandfather always this cruel? Due to their lack of the time they spend together, she doesn't know her grandfather that well after all.

"Haku knows of the law well, that's why I said that he came here to risk his entire being. His entire existence. All for a human girl. But I am in no position to talk, I am but a bystander. The path that Lord Haku chose is something that I cannot change. The issue about the trespasser that crossed the border are still under investigation by the spirit council, they cannot do much since crossing the border would affect them in return. If they contact Lord Haku to eliminate the trespasser, he would have to use his powers."

"What's the harm in that? He's only going to be using his powers to eliminate the trespasser.."

"The harm?" The Elder chuckled.

"The harm is that by using his powers, magic will be brought out into the human world. Many of our ancestors died in the war between the humans. Only a few hundreds of our ancestors managed to create an alternate world for spirits to live in. Magic does not belong in this world. Once you release a certain amount of magic here.. chaos will run about." The Elder continued.

"Yes.. but why are you restricting me from escorting him back home until later?"

"So he can spend his last few hours with the person he loves." A smile formed on his face.

Lenka's eyes widened.

_'What does he mean by 'last few hours'?'_

"You're probably thinking why I said 'last few hours' right?" Lenka nodded.

"Once the boy uses his powers here.. he will be forced by the council to return back to the spirit world permanently. I can't use my own since I've been restricted to do so for the past few decades. If I break the restriction now, who knows what might happen to you if the council finds out. This is Lord Haku's problem. Therefore, he must face it himself."

The Elder picked up his tea from the plate.

"We are only bystanders after all. All we can do is watch the story unravel." The Elder added and smiled before he sipping his tea.


	17. Chapter 16: Rumors

**READ SO YOU DON'T GET CONFUSED! VVVVVV**

**A/N: **Okay guys. In the last chapter, some of you misunderstood the situation. (LOL.) The part when Haku said "I will make you fall in love with me." was what Chihiro THOUGHT was going to happen. It was a scene that she thought of in her **head. **

Sorry for the disappointment and confusion. xD

(And sorry for updating a week later. :c)

**EDIT: LeshyLoo: **Nooo. ;n; Don't laffff at meeee. I chose the school name in a whim. x'D

* * *

**Chapter 16: Rumors**

Shota stood awkwardly beside the vending machine waiting for Paz to choose her drink. The sound of the metal can dropping down to the shoot made him draw his attention back to Paz who happily took her first sip of her drink.

_'I wonder what we should talk about.'_ Shota thought to himself as he thought of different topics he could discuss. Especially a topic that would take his mind off of Chihiro and the transfer student. Alone. By themselves.

Shota sweat-dropped.

"Uh.. so.. have you talked to Key lately?" He finally managed to ask. A few seconds of silence followed after that.

"Mmm.. yeah. Kind of." Paz took another sip of her drink as she sat down on a nearby bench. Shota smiled as he continued to stand beside the vending machine with his arms crossed.

"Oh really? What did he say?" Shota asked with a slightly pitched voice, almost as if he already knew the answer to the question. Paz didn't seem be bothered by this and continued to drink.

"Well.. it wasn't much of a conversation really. We just reminisced about our old times in middle school." Shota narrowed his eyes at Paz, who was examining her peaceful surroundings.

_'Seriously? What's that guy doing..?'_ Shota mumbled to himself in annoyance.

"Did he maybe.. do anything weird? How did he act? Did he say anything weird at all?" Shota began to ask more and more questions every second, not giving Paz a chance to talk.

"Hold on. Why are you asking me all this?" Paz eyed Shota suspiciously, surprising him.

"Oh you know.. I was just asking. You don't really have to tell me." Shota casually replied, hoping that she would tell him what happened.

"Yeah. I don't." Paz replied with a flat tone and went back to drinking. This time, a minute of silence followed. It seemed like forever.

As soon as Paz finished her drink, she threw it at a plastic bin causing Shota to turn his attention back to her.

"So, where's our next clue?" Paz yawned, stretching her arms as he approached Shota to look at the piece of paper he was holding that had the location of their next clue. There were only one clue left after this one, and then they would finally be free from this stupid scavenger hunt.

"Not far from here. It's beside the huge bark tree-" Shota was stopped by the sound of Paz's cellphone.

"Ah, sorry. Just a sec, I got a new message." Paz dug her hand in her pocket and took out her phone. As soon as Paz flipped her phone open, a mail icon showed up with a message that read: New Message!

...

After Paz scanned through the text, her eyes widened, and her mouth slightly hung open.

Shota immediately tried to sneak behind her to take a peek of the text. The expression that she showed right after reading the message was what shook him. When Paz noticed this, she quickly closed her cellphone and put it back in her pocket.

"..Oi, what was that about? Tell me!" Paz took a deep breath and cleared her throat. She looked at Shota and smiled.

"Nah, it was nothing. Just my brother asking when I was coming home." Paz grinned, giving him a feeling of relief.

He had just remembered that Paz's mother had an illness for overworking herself, all because their father ran away when Paz was only seven leaving her family with a huge debt that Paz and her mother had to pay for, even to this day.

The pain and suffering she had to go through since she was young was what gave her the strength to live for her family.

* * *

"Okay. We've got everything on the list except the rock turtle. Do you know what it looks like?" Chihiro turned to Haku who was lost in thought.

"Nigihayami." Haku blinked twice and turned his head to Chihiro.

"What's a rock turtle?" Chihiro looked at Haku with her brows furrowed.

"Hmm.. a turtle-shaped rock maybe?"

"Er.. does that even exist?" Chihiro raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"It's possible." Haku grinned at Chihiro childishly causing her to blush. Chihiro cleared her throat.

"Well. Anyways, that's our last item. As soon as we find it, this whole thing is over and we can go home." Chihiro began to look around the bushes to look for the item.

_'..Did someone just try to use telepathy to contact me?'_ Haku thought to himself. A few seconds ago before Chihiro interrupted his concentration, someone, or _something_ was trying to contact him.

_'Maybe it was just my imagination?'_

* * *

_'Man! The human world's chocolate are definitely the best!'_ Lin thought to herself as she happily ate the bar of chocolate that one of the female teachers had given her earlier that day.

_'What was her name again? Miyu..Miyako? Mayu?'_

Lin leaned against the tree and continued to munch on the chocolate bar. The sound of overlapping footsteps approached. Lin hid behind the tree as soon as she saw two students wearing the Kuran Academy uniform walking towards her direction.

Lin continued to eat the chocolate bar with the plastic wrapper creating small crunching sounds.

"I know! I'm actually not surprised. Chihiro's cute, so of course she'd be popular among the guys. But Shota drives them away." A girl wearing blue framed glasses chuckled.

_'Chihiro..? Yeah, duh. She's always been cute.'_ Lin smirked quietly behind the tree.

"Yeah. I guess this time he failed. You got that text message too didn't you?" A guy with dark brown hair took out his phone.

"Yup. So like, are they going out now or something?"

"Not quite sure, but man, that transfer student sure works fast." The guy laughed.

_'Transfer student? That's definitely Haku.' _Lin thought to herself

"Haha! I agree. I feel bad for Shota though. Knowing that his eight year unrequited love has been stolen away from him so easily. How did it happen?"

"The text said that someone spotted both of them by the river kissing. From what I heard, it seems that the transfer, Nigihayami, initiated the kiss."

_'THEY KISSED?! Wait.. did she remember...?!'_ Lin had just finished her bar of chocolate and shuffled closer to the two students to get a better hearing of the conversation.

"How bold." The girl replied as the the two of them continued walking.

...

_'Lin.. It's Lenka. I'm contacting you using telepathy, can you hear me? I couldn't contact Lord Haku for some reason.'_ A voice in Lin's head began to grow louder.

_'Um.. yeah. How come you have telepathy powers?'_

_'No time to explain right now. RETURN HOME IMMEDIATELY.'_ Lenka exclaimed in a panicked voice.

_'What do you mean? What happened?!'_

_'I can't explain! Bring Lord Haku with you! This is an order from the Elder! Someone will pick you up from the place you were dropped off. Find Lord Haku and arrive here immediately!'_

_'Wait! Tell me what's going on-'_ The voice soon faded from Lin's head. A panicked expression formed on her face. If it was the Elder's orders. Lenka was also very shaken, her voice was trembling.

Lin's eyes widened in realization. Her fist clenching the plastic wrapper.

_'Shit. I thought they were going to stay out of it?!' _

...

_'The Spirit Council has finally arrived, huh?'_


	18. Chapter 17: Trust

**UPDATE* PLEASE READ;;::..**

**I deeply apologize for my readers for not updating the past week. And I'm unsure whether or not I will update this week either. I currently have 'family issues' so I'm not sure if I will be able to update weekly. But I WILL update. I'm just unsure when. Again, I really am sorry for those of you who support this fanfiction as I will try my best to give you more chapters in the future. So please be patient, thank you.**

**- MiniatureAzn (6/7/13) **

**A/N: **Hey guys~ I bring you a slightly longer chapter than usual since I'm a day late in publishing. xD

(And I'm sorry for the grammar/spelling/punctuation mistakes. Sometimes I'm just brain-dead/lazy.)

* * *

_**Chapter 17: Trust**_

"What's the meaning of this?!" The Elder slammed his hand on the table and immediately stood up from his seat causing everyone to turn their attention to him.

"Now, now. We don't have much of a choice here. We don't plan to stay here for long. We want that young man to eliminate the trespasser for us. That's the only option we have here." A man with a long white goatee narrowed his eyes at the Elder in a serious manner.

"Egerio.. you can't do that. Do you plan to bring destruction to this world once again?" The Elder retorted in a calm tone which brought out an eerie atmosphere between the two.

"Then do you plan to take on the job in his place? If you do, you would be breaking our contract. Not even I myself, would know what the King would do to your precious granddaughter. A possible death, maybe?" Egerio chuckled darkly. Not even blinking once when he said the word 'death'.

The tension between the two broke soon after the sliding door opened, revealing a blank faced Lenka and behind her was the long awaited guest, Haku.

"Grandfather, I have brought Lord Haku." The Elder thanked Lenka as she bowed before exiting the room.

"Ah, I see. So, this is the river dragon?" Egerio smiled to Haku, but Haku was obviously not too happy about the situation considering the fact that he was dragged away from Chihiro. Egerio cleared his throat due to the lack of reply from the dragon. "Well then, please sit with us. We have much to discuss-."

"End this meaningless smooth talking and get to the point if you please." Haku stated in irritation as he sat down diligently beside the Elder while everyone else was staring at him in awe.

"Wh-, young man, do you know who you're talking to? Have some respect!" A man that sat beside Egerio clenched his fists, ready to get up from his position and storm over to Haku. Fortunately, Egerio stopped him before anything else happened.

"It's fine. Although it's not exactly the first time someone has had enough courage to talk to me in that manner, he is still one of the few." Egerio smiled, but only this time, it looked heavily forced.

"I assume that you know about why we're here?"

"..Yes. It's about the recent disturbance to the balance between the border connecting this world to ours right? So I've been told. What about it?" Haku retorted strictly giving off a dangerous vibe around the room. Some of Egerio's companions that he brought with him were even whispering and discussing things about Haku's 'disrespectful' attitude towards the chief although it was obvious that he could hear them.

"Know your places. I know very well about this man's abilities and what he's capable of. I could even say that him alone, could wipe out a whole continent if he were able to morph into his dragon form." Egerio turned to the man beside him, who was now staring directly at Haku, even though his facial expression didn't show much fear, his whole body was slightly trembling. Surely enough, no one in the room knew that dragons still existed. No one except the Elder, Egerio and Haku himself.

"So? You came here to ask me to do your dirty work for you right? I already know the outcome of all this."

"Well, since you already understand what we came here for. Will you work with us or not?" Haku turned his head to the Elder to find him staring worriedly at the table with his eyes furrowed. Egerio noticed this and began to form a sly grin on his face.

"Oh and I also heard about that human girl.. I heard that you came here just to see her. I checked the files of the previous workers in that witch's bathhouse to see what kind of relationship you had with her." Haku flinched and immediately turned to Egerio, who was sitting right across him.

"You may be the chief of the council but that does not give you any right to look into other people's backgrounds and history." Haku exclaimed as he stood up from his position. The Elder didn't say a word and continued to look down on the table.

"Oh? But this was all for the sake to carry out this mission. I have the responsibility to protect the border. In other words, I do have the right." Egerio chuckled nonchalantly.

"And we also needed something against you so you can't object to our request." Upon hearing this, the Elder looked up, seeing a wide-eyed Haku and a grinning Egerio.

"Based on your reaction just now, it is clearly telling me that you're in love with that girl. What was her name again? Chihiro? And we all know that such emotions existing between an immortal and a human is forbidden to ever take place, and you know it too don't you? Don't deny it."

"I see.. blackmailing, huh? But unfortunately, there's a small but visible dent in your plan." Egerio's eyes slightly widened. He had never miscalculated a plan before. But then again, it's possible that Haku was only trying to lead him off from the truth. His eyes widened at the young man standing before him who had a smirk on his face. The Elder seemed to be surprised at this too.

"And that is?"

"The reason I came to look for her here was because I was indebted to her a long time ago for releasing me of my contract with the witch. Thus, I promised myself to serve her when I arrived at this age. Although in this case, I'm not always a man of my word." Haku grinned darkly at Egerio, who seemed to have no reaction towards what he had just said.

"Really now.. what do you mean by not always being a man of your word, dragon?"

"What I'm trying to say is; that girl is of no importance to me. Nor do I harbor any kind of special feelings for her. I know very well that you're planning to kill her if I refuse, but by all means, feel free to slit her throat or cut her body in half. I treasure my own well-being too, so it's only natural I'd choose my own life over hers, don't you think?" Haku stated coldly. This was definitely a risk for him. If that man managed to see through him even after saying all that, it would be dangerous for Chihiro to even walk out of her home without getting ambushed if he refused.

There was a moment of silence that soon broke down right after Egerio began to chuckle, raising an eyebrow at Haku causing him to narrow his eyes.

"You speak awfully calm about this and yet you sound so heavily.. defensive."

_'Shit.. he broke my defense down like kicking a sand castle.'_ Haku cursed to himself, not realizing he had been showing a anxious expression in front of everyone in the room.

"Oh, so I guess I've hit the bullseye?" Egerio stated confidently. He was nearly driven to a corner himself, until Haku showed his real emotions out on the surface so openly, like some defenseless love struck fool. Haku's eyes widened as he continued to stand before the chief.

"Then, that settles that."

Haku's heartbeat fastened, readying himself to what was about to be announced.

"You have to eliminate that trespasser before the Ancestry Wars festival, which is in 7 months time. It may sound like a lot of time, but the trespasser could be anywhere in this world. And you don't even know what he or she looks like. On top of that, you're quite restricted from using your powers. And if you don't.."

After those few words, Haku didn't dare listen to the rest of what the chief had said. Before the chief mouthed the words to Haku, he stood up from his seat and began to walk out of the room guided by Lenka, with the chief's subordinates following him from behind.

As soon as the footsteps were faint, the Elder began to stand up from his own seat, turning his head to Haku

"Haku.. I must apologize, but as much as I'd like to help with your tragic situation.. I'm restricted to do so, I'm restrained from using my own powers in order to protect Lenka. I deeply apologize for this."

"I cannot say that it's alright but I understand how much you care for your granddaughter, but right now, something has been bothering me on the way here." Haku narrowed his eyes at the sliding door, in which the Elder noticed as his eyes widened in realization that Lin had been standing there.

"That's-" The Elder was cut off by Lin, who obviously looked furious. The space between her eyebrows wrinkled as she glared angrily at Haku who wasn't aware of the situation.

"What's the meaning of this, Haku?"

"Who are you to address me in such a friendly manner? Aren't you only a teacher in the school? What's the meaning of this?" Haku turned his head to the Elder, who had let out a sigh.

"Now, both of you, have a seat. I'll explain everything to Haku first about your identity, then after that you can ask as many questions as you like." The Elder sat down and gestured the two to do the same. Lin stormed her way over to the seat beside the Elder and across Haku's.

"Haku. This person is Lin. She requested me to let her stay in this world in order to watch over you when you're in school. Just in case you use your powers unconsciously or reflexively. I turned her into a male in order for you not to get too suspicious."

"Lin.." Haku whispered under his breath. He barely even suspected 'him' to be Lin. Should he be happy because he finally reconciled with someone he knew or mad because he felt that she didn't trust him enough? Or maybe she didn't have faith in him on retrieving Chihiro back?

"Introduction's over. It's my turn. Why did you sell Chihiro out?! You practically handed her life over to the council without even blinking an eye! You stood there without an answer like some brainless goof!" Lin exclaimed slamming her clenched fist on the table. There have been a lot of fist slamming against this table today and soon enough, it was going to collapse any moment.

"I didn't sell her out. He simply saw through my disguise, and just so you know, I don't plan on letting them take her life. You should know that." Haku retorted calmly to the infuriated Lin.

_'Seeing how calm he is towards this matter pisses me off.'_ Lin muttered to herself.

"Both of you should stop this. Rather than wasting your breath arguing over something that has already passed. Why not use your brain to figure something out?" The Elder stated as he glared at the two. As soon as the silence erupted in the room, Lenka slid the door open causing all the attention to be thrown on her.

"I found something out and I think this will help you find out who the trespasser is, but I'm not exactly sure of the location." Lenka hurried beside the Elder and bowed to the other two, who did the same in return.

"I overheard one of the subordinates talking about the witch that owns the famous bathhouse in the spirit world." Lin flinched as soon as she heard 'witch'.

_'Famous bathhouse. That's obviously Yubaba.'_ Haku thought to himself as he continued to pay attention to every word that Lenka was saying.

"She hired a new apprentice and he seems to be an average spirit but.. there were rumours about the witch, Yubaba, 'lending' him her powers to manipulate a person's memories. To regain forgotten ones, or to replace the fragments, even erase them completely. They said that Yubaba wanted to retrieve something from the human world and used her apprentice to look for it here."

"Wait.. do you know what they're after though?" Lin stared at Lenka in concern, hoping for an answer that _didn't_ involve Chihiro. There was still a huge possibility. Even Haku knew of this.

"..I did a quick research of the crime reports history without getting noticed while you guys were discussing matters in this room and I found out that the hair tie that we had our hands on from a few weeks ago was actually the golden seal that was extracted into thread. The golden seal is one of the finest magical weapons known in the spirit world. It is said to deplete the magic from anyone who touches the person holding it, but only if the person knew how to use it. It's priceless in the spirit world."

"And one of them also said that the apprentice had excellent tracking skills. Wherever the golden seal is, he or she would probably be close to it by now. We've spared too much time." Lenka added.

_'That was the one that I stole from Zeniba.. I nearly lost my life because of it.'_ Haku thought to himself.

"So that's what they're after? That's simple. We'll just give the hair tie back to the council, so then the trespasser would have to go back to the spirit world and face the council head on by themselves. You had it with you, right Lin?" The Elder chuckled as he looked at Lin, patiently waiting for her to smile and say that she did.

A few seconds passed and not even a single sound from the speechless Lin.

Lin slowly felt numb, paralyzed, and unable to move from her spot. Not even an inch. As if the all energy was getting sucked out of her body until she was nothing but a lifeless corpse. Lin's complexion began to turn pale, in which the three of them quickly noticed.

"Lin.. what's wrong? You don't look too good." Lenka questioned worriedly.

"Oh dear.. don't tell me.." The Elder's eyes widened as he rested his elbow on the table and rubbed his forehead.

"Lin, where's the hair tie?" Haku angrily stood up from his seat and glared at Lin who looked down on the table not able to say a word nor make eye contact with any of them.

...

"I'm sorry.."

"Chihiro.. Chihiro has it."


	19. Chapter 18: Responsibility

**READ IF YOU WANT -**

**Sorry for the long wait everyone, but I did tell you guys that I'd update no matter what right? How long has it been? Again, I'm sorry for going on a sudden hiatus. Well.. here you go. c: **

* * *

_**Chapter 18: Responsibility**_

"What in the world, Lin? I thought you got rid of it?" The Elder spoke in such a calm and suppressed manner that it was almost as dreadful as Haku's raspy dragon calls.

Lin furrowed her brows trying to think of something to say to try to reassure them that everything was going to be fine. Unfortunately, not one word came to her mind. How could she even think that everything was going to be 'fine'? She just made the Elder, who was usually calm and forgiving, speak in 'that' kind of tone.

"Lin, are you sure Chihiro has it? Did you give directly give it to her? If you did, then why?" Haku calmed his voice, feeling sympathy for her as looked at Lin's frightened expression, well, technically it was his teacher's but he could still see a bit of 'Lin' in him.

Lenka compromised with Haku and knelt beside Lin and gently held her hand for comfort. Lenka noticed Lin's hands slightly quivering and gave a sad smile as she clutched them tightly. The Elder sighed a long sigh and looked directly at the terrified person sitting across him.

"Well, Lin? Are you going to answer Haku or not?" Silence echoed around the room except for the sound of the impatient finger tapping on the table, which made it even worse by putting a huge amount of pressure on Lin.

"..I'm not sure, okay? When the Elder gave it back to me without saying anything, I thought it was alright to give it back to her since it was hers in the first place and it was important to her. I didn't give it to her directly. I gave it to this blonde-haired guy that was one of her friends and told him to give it to Chihiro." Lin took a brief moment to breathe and finally summoned the courage to look up and into Haku's eyes.

He wasn't mad nor was he happy that Chihiro _may_ not have gotten the thread with her. She turned her gaze back to the Elder but his expression didn't change one bit. It was still the same old dark gloomy expression he showed a few minutes ago before this whole 'thing' started.

"What happened has happened. So we must retrieve back the object from them safely and we must retrieve it unnoticed. But unfortunately, for your own careless actions, you must carry out the retrieval on your own. Be responsible for your own mistakes." The Elder stood up from his seat and walked out of the room leaving the three of them to have a short recap of what happened.

"I'm sorry, Lin. Unfortunately, I cannot help you this time. But I do know one blonde-haired boy that used to be in the sports committee last year named Toiro Key, although I'm not sure. That is as far as I can probably help you." Before leaving the room, like always, Lenka bowed to the remaining room before closing the door.

"What do you plan to do in school tomorrow?" Haku rested his arms on the table before directing his anxious gaze at Lin.

"I don't know."

"You have to make a plan soon before the El-"

"I KNOW. Stop telling me already!" Lin slammed her fist against the table before getting up from the chair and storming off. Haku sat in silence as he watched Lin leave with a slightly tilted and unbalanced table in front of him.

* * *

"That guy was obviously being a jerk, Chi. So stay away from him." Shota scolded. Chihiro couldn't help but sigh, thinking that Haku probably had a good reason for having to leave so suddenly because he didn't seem to be the type to let people down.

"No. Stop being an idiot. Haku probably had a good reason for leaving Chihiro in the first place. He's not the type do something like that without a reason, so stop bad-mouthing him without even knowing what he has to say." Paz retorted defensively leaving Shota speechless. Chihiro turned away from the window and looked at Paz.

_'She read my mind for a moment there.'_ Chihiro thought to herself as she looked at Paz who continued on arguing with Shota.

"Why are you siding with that guy? He's the one that left Chihiro! If he had a reason, it wouldn't even take a minute to explain right? Explain that." Shota folded his arms and snorted confidently.

"I agree with Paz. I'm sure he had a good reason to leave. He didn't seem like the type, so.." Chihiro mumbled as she returned her gaze back to the window. "I don't really know him that well but at the same time, there are times I feel like I do." Chihiro sighed as she rested her chin on her table.

Shota gritted his teeth. He couldn't take it anymore. All she had been doing this whole time was daydream and sigh. What happened between them during the trip? His mouth was_ itching_ to ask, but he had to respect Chihiro's privacy.. but then again, he_ really_ wanted to know.

"Chi. Did something between you and Nigihayami during the trip?" Paz looked surprised as she immediately turned her head back to the other two. Chihiro, on the other hand, stood up straight and looked even more surprised than she was. Shota narrowed his eyes at Chihiro. She was, in no doubt, surprised.

_'So something did happen between them..'_ Shota mumbled to himself as he silently cursed.

"What do you mean?" Chihiro replied to the question as if she was confused. Before Shota could say anything, a group of girls began making their way to Chihiro's table with somewhat irritated expressions.

"Oogino. Is it true that you pushed down the transfer student and kissed him yesterday? Someone said that they saw you guys making out by the river." One of the girls slammed her hand on Chihiro's table as she got closer to her. "Answer me, bitch."

"What the hell? Back off, Yuka. Who are you to talk to her like that and accuse her of ridiculous things?" Shota stood up from his seat, towering above the short brunette. She didn't look the least bit intimidated.

"Sho.. you may be cute but unfortunately for you, someone else has already taken over your position as 'prince'.. So shut the fuck up, will ya?" Shota stood in amazement at how one of his 'fans' suddenly turned into a total b-you know what.

"You already stole Shota, and now you're seducing him too? Stop being a total _slut_." Yuka narrowed her eyes at Chihiro, waiting for her reply.

"You're one to talk. Walking around in your dumb clique. If those girls didn't always follow you around, you wouldn't be confident enough to talk to people like this. Chihiro's a nice person so she obviously wouldn't want to say anything that would offend easily butt-hurt people like you." Paz interrupted. It happened to her before in middle school with Key, so she knew how it felt. Even now, it's still a wonder as to how Key was popular back then.

"WHAT? You wanna die? Don't tell me you're actually sticking up for this bitch? Even after the stuff you've gone through because of her? You put her happiness first before your own and now, look at yourself. A third wheel to these two." Yuka got interrupted by the sliding of the door, revealing Key, who had recently got back from practice and came over to Chihiro's class to visit a particular person.

"Oi. You brune. I recorded everything you just said on my phone. From what I heard, you have strict parents and apparently, you don't act like this at home. What would your parents say when they heard this?" Key chuckled as he tossed his phone in the air and caught it with his hand.

"Tch. You should stop acting all high and mighty when you went through the same thing. Let's go guys." Yuka stormed off with her clique following from behind her, leaving the rest of the class in stillness.

"Ha! Stop acting all high and mighty? Oh the irony." Paz mocked. "Why didn't you say anything, Chihiro?"

"Yeah.. I kinda heard the whole thing too and I didn't hear you say anything. So why..? Unless.." Key stopped. Shota's jaw began to drop as he turned to Chihiro.

"Unless you guys really did kiss.." Key finished.

"Nooo. It wasn't like that! Sheesh. You guys are always believing these kinds of rumors. We didn't kiss, okay? I'm pretty sure someone just saw us beside the river at the right moment and misunderstood. My foot got stuck between twos rocks and tripped, he tried to catch me but he ended up slipping too. We were searching for our clue. How the heck did this 'rumor' even go around and since when?"

"Since yesterday. Almost everyone that participated in the hunt received the text but no one knows who sent it. Sho, didn't you receive a text about it too? Paz forwarded it to me last night." Key took out his phone and showed it to Shota, who obviously looked furious by the look on his face.

"If I ever catch the person who spread this rumor around.. I'm gonna strangle them to death and throw their body in a never-ending river."

"Getting a bit too violent now are we? Plus, now you guys know the truth, can we move on from this topic?" Chihiro added in frustration.

"Weelllll, I gotta go now. The bell's about to ring. Paz, you should go back too you know. Oh, and I heard that Chihiro's class is getting a new transfer student today. Good luck. Text me information about him after this period. Thanks." Key and Paz hurried back to their rooms frantically, having one minute left before they were officially late.

"Seriously? Why are there so many transfers at nearly the end of the year? If this one happens to be good-looking too, then I'm out of this school." Shota grunted while he turning his chair back to the front, facing the board. With only a few seconds after the other two left, the bell finally rang. That annoying sound of rapid hard tapping of metal against metal that irritated every student twice a day, except for home time of course.

The door slid open revealing the teacher and the new transfer student. He was surprisingly short and cute with strawberry-creme hair and a pair of golden brown eyes.

"Class. We have a new transfer today. His name is Hiyagi Aoi. Treat him kindly, and definitely no pranks or wrestling even if it's a joke, because he has a weak heart condition." The teacher gestured to the short boy who in turn bowed to the class and began to introduce himself.

"Hello. I'm Hiyagi Aoi. I'm from Hokkaido and yes, I do have a heart condition but I'm not very comfortable to go further in explaining it. I will not be around school that much either because I'm still in the middle of stuff.. Please do take care of me." Aoi bowed and looked at the teacher, who pointed at the seat in front of Shota.

"That's your new seat. If you don't like being near the window, feel free to tell me." The teacher smiled before facing the board and starting the lesson.

"Okay. We'll start on revising what we learnt yesterday since most of you didn't listen."

"Sooo.. Shota.. when do you plan to drop out of school?" Chihiro quietly laughed from behind.

"Shut up." Shota sulked as he prepared to talk a nap.

* * *

"Pssst. Haku. Did you hear about the new transfer student in Chihiro's class? Key just texted me from what he heard from Chihiro." Paz teased as she whispered to Haku and annoying him about the new student.

"I heard he was reaaaally cute. Are you jealous? Huh? Are you? Chihiro might fall in love with him faster than you think."

"Jeaaaalllooouuussss." Haku turned his head to the window trying to ignore Paz and her seemingly-ridiculous statements. Paz let out a long sigh.

"Seriously, this is no fun. Why don't you just admit you like her? That way, it's easier for me to breathe." Paz spoke in a monotone voice as she played with her pencil.

"I do like her."

_'...Eh?'_

"As in, like-like? More-than-friends like?" Paz questioned, dropping her pencil and turning her head to Haku, who seemed to be secretly smiling to himself.

"..Maybe."

"Stop giving me a cliffhanger! Just say it. What kind of relationship did you two have before?" Paz demanded.

"I guess you could call it an innocent 'first love'?"


	20. Chapter 19: Complications

_****_**IMPORTANT NOTICE!**

**The way I type my fanfic will be different from now on due to laziness. I know I couldn't update the week before but that was because my day's work was deleted mercilessly by my mother who blames it on me, so I was like "EH. Screw this." and went off to procrastinate. Thanks for understanding. **

**THE CHANGES I HAVE MADE TO MY FANFICTION WHICH ALL OF YOU HAVE TO NOW GET USED TO (I'm sorry): **

**The thoughts of the characters will be displayed with - ' ' (Apostrophe)**

**And when they talk, what they say will be displayed with - " " (Speech marks)**

**Also, the gaps between the paragraphs are now wider. **

**Happy reading. (This chapter's pretty short.)**

* * *

_**Chapter 19: Complications**_

"Pffft! Man, you are so cheesy. As if. Chihiro's first love was some other dude back in middle school named Kasuke, he moved away overseas though. Now, stop lying and tell me the real 'relationship' between you two.." Paz teased as she playfully punched Haku on the arm. By the looks of it, he didn't look too happy, more like confused and slightly angered.

"What do you mean? I'm not lying and I can't tell you anything else but that. Setting that aside, who's Kasuke?" Haku transferred all his attention from the lesson, and turned to Paz who looked somewhat clueless, she thought for a moment and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm not sure, really. Shota just told me. He used to always rant about it back then. You should have seen his face as soon as he heard that the guy was going to move to another country. He literally announced it to the entire student body when we all got admitted here." Paz grinned to herself as she thought of the past.

Paz leaned back on the wooden chair as she struggled to get comfortable. Haku continued to stare at Paz, slightly surprised. It was obvious that Chihiro would have had at least one or two guys she would form an attraction to but it was still a bit of a surprise for him. Chihiro is already a teenage girl, it wasn't something to be shocked about.

"Jesus.. I know these chairs are traditional but seriously? I don't wanna have to slouch when get older." Paz complained while rubbing her shoulder blade in irritation. "In all seriousness, about this Kasuke person, what was he like?" Noticing that Haku had his face turned to the window, with his somewhat blushing cheeks. Paz formed a grin.

"Hmm.. why do you wanna know?" Paz rested her chin on her hand as she looked at Haku from the corner of her eye, trying not to get caught by the teacher. "No special reason. Just want to keep the conversation flowing." Paz snorted at Haku's retaliation. "A guy being jealous is cute but when you're just plain stubborn, it doesn't really work that well."

"So? Since when have I ever been jealous? Stop acting like you can read me." Haku turned to Paz with a raised eyebrow. 'There he goes again with his guy-pride.' Paz thought to herself while she raised an eyebrow back at Haku, then back to the teacher who had his back from the class. "Whatever. I don't care anymore, okay? I'm just trying to point out that if you're not honest with your feelings, maybe not to that special someone, but to yourself, because you have too much 'pride', you'll be stuck standing in one place by yourself."

After a long, depressing sigh. Paz turned back to Haku only to find him giving her one of his weirded-out and confused expressions. "What is it? Something wrong with my advice? Psh."

"I noticed something a few weeks after I came to this school, actually.." Haku gave a sly smile to Paz, in which in turn ended up kind of creeping her out in some way. 'Oh God.' Paz muttered to herself, her toes began sweating as she started to fidget. "And that is..?" She was failing at giving a non-caring look to Haku. She could feel the corner of her lips twitching.

"Were you- wait no, do you still like Shota?"

...'Tsk.. pretty sharp.' Paz mumbled to herself before clearing her throat.

"Since I'm honest with myself, unlike you.. yes. I used to. So, don't go and start telling Chihiro or anyone else. You're probably the only one who knows this except for Key and this.. other girl."

"Alright, it's not like I'm interested in your personal life. Now would you tell me about this Kasuke guy?" Haku grunted impatiently.

"Fine, sheesh."

* * *

*A/N;Note: Maru - round & kuma - bear (My P.E teacher.) xD

"Coach Marukuma, may I please pull out Toiro Key from practice for a few minutes?" Lin struggled to keep herself from laughing out in the open. 'His name fits his figure so perfectly.' The coach noticed Lin's lips pursed and let out a sigh. A 'like-always' kind of sigh, shortly after he called out for Key. "Toiro, a teacher's asking for you. Hurry up."

It wasn't long after that, a bleach-blonde boy approached Lin with both sides of his face dripping with sweat and.. radiating a pretty unpleasant smell. "What's up? Aren't you one of Paz's teachers? You don't teach in any of my classes." Key grabbed the white towel that hung over his shoulder and hurriedly wiped his face.

"Yes, but I'm actually here to ask for that hair tie I gave you over a week ago, I think?" Lin smiled calmly, desperately trying to stick with what she had planned the night before. The 'Thread Retrieval' mission. Sounds lame, yes. No need to rub it in.

'I just hope that he hasn't given it back to Chihiro yet. It'll make things way easier.' Lin felt her face stiffen while her smile started to hurt.

"Oh right! I forgot to give it back to Chihiro, it's still in my desk. Don't worry, I'll give to her later after practice." The bleach-blonde beamed at Lin, who had an uneasy expression plastered all over her face. "Oh, alright. Guess I don't have to worry about it then." Lin returned an even more forced kind of smile while Key ran back to the court, called over by his teammates asking for tips on footwork.

'Damn it.. what class was he in again?'

Lin approached the coach timidly and waved. "Yes, what else do you want?" He grunted at Lin with an irritated look, the kind that said 'Go away'.

"I wanted to ask what class that boy was from is all."

* * *

"Chi! There you are. Sheesh, we were at the rooftop but you guys never came. Where's Shota? He's usually with you." Paz rushed over to Chihiro's desk with Haku following behind her. Chihiro's gaze immediately avoided his. "Wellll, he's busy showing around the new kid. And here I am studying for the make-up test since I barely passed my last one." Chuckling nervously, Paz quickly noticed this and Haku did too, soon after.

"Anyways.. I actually want to ask both of you something. Shota's 'absence' right now is probably just my luck so uh.. did you two really kiss or what?"

...

"I told you that it was a fake rumour.. so can we not talk about it anymore?" Chihiro immediately replied to Paz's question.

'Yup she's pissed.' Paz mentally face-palmed herself for even asking, but why isn't Haku saying anything?

"Huh? What kind of question is that? A rumour?" Haku gave a puzzled look to the two, who looked just as surprised. "What the? You haven't heard of it? Rumours are spreading around about you and Chihiro. It's during the tri-"

"Stop it, Paz. You're starting to piss me off." Chihiro glared at Paz, who in turn, cleared her throat and looked away. "Anyways, Haku, you don't really need to-" Chihiro froze as soon as she saw Haku with a disappointed look.

'So she still doesn't trust me? Was it because I left her during that scavenger hunt?' Haku thought to himself as he let out a depressed sigh which rung continuously in Chihiro's ears. "Nigihayami~ Could you come out here for a sec? Yuka has something to tell you." A short girl came up to Haku with a smile. Her face looked like it was dipped in red curry.

"Ugh, not again. Ease up on the make-up, sweetheart." Paz grunted and smiled at the girl sarcastically. "What do you want, Eri?" Chihiro twiddled with her pencil as she looked at the irritated shorty. "I came here to kindly escort Nigihayami to where Yuka is because she has something to tell him." Before Haku could say anything, he was dragged away from a group of girls who were flocking outside Chihiro's class.

"What was all that?" Paz took out a box of pepero as she watched Haku from behind being dragged away by a sea of giggling fangirls.

"I don't know, nor do I care." Chihiro began to continue on with her studying, distracted by the crunching sound of Paz eating. "You know, earlier, you were defending him, and suddenly now, you're mad. You're so confusing." Paz took another pepero from the box and began to chew it loudly. The door to the class open revealing a confused Shota.

"Hey, where's the new kid?" Paz offered the pepero box to Shota, in which he took as soon as she did. "I'm so hungry.. he's in the teacher's office. And by the way, why was Haku talking to Yuka? I didn't know they knew each other." Shota began to chew the pepero just as loud as Paz.

'Calm yourself. Gotta calm down.' Chihiro mumbled to herself as she tried to focus on her work. With all her classmates talking, retards being retards along the halls, and Paz and Shota chewing pepero loudly just puts the cherry on top.

"Did you hear what they were talking about though?" Paz put out her hand in front of Shota as a signal to give her another pepero. There were only two left. Shota sighs and gives one of them to Paz and takes the last one for himself.

"Not really but it sounded like um.. like a, waitttt, what's the word I'm looking for? Those in mangas.. help me here."

"Err.. like a confession?"

"Yeah! That's it! Yuka said she liked hi-" The two were startled as Chihiro stood from her seat, tightly gripping her pencil. "Woah.. what's wrong? Need help?" Shota offered timidly even though he knew he wasn't any good at studying either, at least he offered. "Chi.. you okay?" Paz lightly pats Chihiro on the back. Chihiro turned to Shota, her eyes flared directly at him.

"Sorry! I know, I should've given you a pepero but I couldn't help it. I'm sorry!" Shota clasped both of his hands together and bowed.

"..No, not that. Yuka and Haku.. where are they?"

* * *

**Now I'd like at least a fave or follow (or maybe even both? c;) for deciding not to be lazy today and skip writing this. And since I won't have a laptop/computer this week (probably, it depends whether or not I get someone to fix it..) I'll be writing to you guys some time next-next week, or the week after that. xD**


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